The assembly characteristics of debranched xylan in solution and onto cellulose surfaces have been investigated. Rye arabinoxylan with an initial arabinose/xylose ratio of 0.53 was debranched with an oxalic acid treatment and the resulting samples contained reduced arabinose/xylose ratios significantly affecting the molecular architecture and solution behaviour of the biopolymer. With this treatment an almost linear xylan with arabinose DS of only 0.04 was obtained. Removal of arabinose resulted in a gradual increase in crystallinity of the dry xylan and a self-assembly of the debranched polymer in water into stable nanoparticle aggregates with a size around 300 nm.  The adsorption of xylan onto model cellulose surfaces was quantified using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring . Compared to the non-modified xylan, the amount of debranched xylan increased from 0.6 mg m-2 to 5.5 mg m-2. Adsorption kinetics suggest that the nanoparticles rapidly adsorbed to the cellulose surfaces compared to the arabinoxylan. In summary, control of the molecular structure of xylan influences its ability to form a new class of polysaccharide nanoparticles in aqueous suspensions as well as interact with nanocellulose surfaces.

Nanoparticles based on linear xylans and their assembly onto cellulose surfaces

247th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.