Controlled Loading and Release of Beta-Lactoglobulin in Calcium-Polygalacturonate Hydrogels.

We show here how the structure of polygalacturonate (polyGalA) hydrogels cross-linked by Ca cations via external gelation controls the loading and release rate of beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), a globular protein. Hydrogels prepared from a polyGalA/BLG solution are found to be similar to those obtained from a polyGalA solution in our previous study (Maire du Poset et al. , (7), 2864-2872): they exhibit similar transparencies and gradients of mechanical properties and polyGalA concentrations.

Thermal restraint of a bacterial exopolysaccharide of shallow vent origin.

To dynamically characterize the thermal properties of the fructose-rich exopolysaccharide (EPS1-T14), produced by the marine thermophilic Bacillus licheniformis T14, the Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy was coupled to variable temperature ranging from ambient to 80°C. The spectra were analyzed by the following innovative mathematical tools: i) non-ideal spectral deviation, ii) OH-stretching band frequency center shift, iii) spectral distance, and iv) wavelet cross-correlation analysis. The thermal restraint analysis revealed that the whole EPS1-T14 system possessed high stability until 80°C, and suggested that fucose was mainly involved in the EPS1-T14 thermal stability, whereas glucose was responsible for its molecular flexibility.

Water-induced local ordering of chitosan polymer chains in thin layer films.

Carbon-13 NMR (CP-MAS and FSLG (1)H-(13)C HETCOR) have been applied to chitosan salt films synthesized in acetic acid and exposed to different relative humidity environments (32% or 75%) at 20°C for 1 month. It gives insight in the relationship between structure and functional properties according to the hydration level of this biomaterial as a film. The acetate ions trapped in the chitosan act as structuring agents between chitosan chains for the low hydration state.

The polysiloxane cyclization equilibrium constant: a theoretical focus on small and intermediate size rings.

The nonlinear dependence of polysiloxane cyclization constants (log(K(x))) with ring size (log(x)) is explained by a thermodynamic model that treats specific torsional modes of the macromolecular chains with a classical coupled hindered rotor model. Several parameters such as the dependence of the internal rotation kinetic energy matrix with geometry, the effect of potential energy hindrance, anharmonicity, and the couplings between internal rotors were investigated. This behavior arises from the competing effects of local molecular entropy that is mainly driven by the intrinsic transformation of vibrations in small cycles into hindered rotations in larger cycles and configurational entropy.