Polysaccharides - Xanthan
11 important questions on Polysaccharides - Xanthan
What are 2 properties that all bacterial polysaccharides have?
- Organised chemical structure due to presence of repeating units
- Controlled fermentation process yielding rather standardised products
How are bacterial polysaccharides produced?
What is the source of xanthan?
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What is the structure of xanthan?
- Beta-1,4 (cellulose) backbone (stiff)
- Every second glucose has a side chain (charged) of:
- mannose --> with acetyl group
- glucuronic acid
- mannose --> with pyruvate group
What is the conformation of xanthan influenced by?
- Temperature
- Ionic strength
- pH
- Primary xanthan structure
- Acetyl content
- Pyruvate content
What are the unique flow properties of xanthan?
- At rest: disordered structure, with yield values
- Low shear: semi-ordered structure, free flowing
- High shear: ordered structure, flowing
Independent on pH and T
What is the effect of the solvent conditions (salt) on xanthan conformation?
Why is xanthan highly valued in food texturising?
- Quite soluble
- Highly stable over wide pH and T range
- Exhibits highly pseudo plastic flow properties
- Shows moisture control in baked goods
- Is a viscosifier alone, but shows strong interactions with galactomannans giving transparent, thermo-reversible gels
What is the source of gellan?
What is the structure of gellan?
Can you explain why xanthan, being a polymer with a cellulose-like backbone, is highly soluble and has good viscosifying and stabilising properties?
The negative charges and the 'apolar' acetyl groups influence the molecular interactions, resulting in unique viscosity properties.
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