A novel amphiphilic biopolymer was synthesized by incorporating hydrophobic segment cholic acid (CA) into hydrophilic segment carboxymethyl xylan (CX) through coupling agent. Structural characteristics and self-assembly behaviors of the amphiphilic conjugates in aqueous solution were investigated in detail. Results showed that the conjugates provided monodispersed self-assembly micelles in distilled water, with mean diameters in the range of 90-135 nm, depending on the DS of CA. TEM and AFM images demonstrated that the self-assembly micelles were spherical. The micelles were covered with negatively charged carboxymethyl xylan shells, exhibiting Zeta potential about -38 mV. The critical aggregation concentration (CAC) of the conjugate (0.0079-1.25�10-2 g/L) was closely related to the DS of CA and solution pH. Cytotoxicity test indicated that amphiphilic conjugates did not show any cytotoxity. Moreover, the amphiphilic conjugates exhibited environmental-response performance, which will confer additional performances to these conjugates or micelles and allow their applications in food and pharmaceutical fields.

Synthesis and self-assembly behaviors of amphiphilic xylan-cholic acid conjugates in aqueous solution

247th National Meeting (2014)

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