Polymers Derived from 4-Substituted Salicylic Acids as Antifungal Agents

4-Amino-, chloro-, and bromo-substituted salicylic acid-formaldehyde polymers and their metal chelates were screened for their antifungal activity. Various copolymers prepared from 4-chloro-(bromo)salicylic acid, formaldehyde, and other comonomers were also screened for their antifungal activity. All these polymers, copolymers, and polychelates were found active against several fungi Their fungicidal activities are compared with those of the corresponding monomers and monomeric chelates.     

Feasibility of Polyvinyl Alcohol as a Transdermal Drug Delivery System for Terbutaline Sulphate

A series of terbutaline sulphate drug incorporated polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix films were produced by the solvent evaporation method. The effect of xanthan gum and plasticizers (propylene glycol and dibutyl phthalate) on the rate and amount of drug diffusion from PVA membrane across the hydrated cellophane membrane has been evaluated, using an open glass diffusion‐tube. The obtained films were clear, smooth and flexible having sufficient mechanical strength. The mechanical performance of the dry PVA films with xanthan gum and plasticizers were also ascertained. Polyvinyl alcohol‐xanthan gum blends showed a high rate of drug release compared to that of polyvinyl alcohol film alone. Among the two plasticizers employed, propylene glycol showed better permeability. Among different formulations studied, the formulation PVA/xanthan gum/propylene glycol (F7) was found to be an optimized composition for efficient transdermal delivery of the model drug, terbutaline sulphate. The mechanism of drug diffusion has been evaluated using the Peppas model. Stability studies carried out on polymer‐drug formulations revealed that the drug is stable at 40°C and 75% RH for a period of 6 weeks.     

Energy filtered transmission electron microscopy for the physico-chemical characterization of aquatic submicron colloids

A combination of energy filtered transmission electron microscopic (EF-TEM) procedures is proposed for the non-perturbing physico-chemical characterization of submicron mineral and organic colloids in aquatic systems. Synthetic hematite microparticles and xanthan polysaccharides were used as well-characterized model colloids in order to determine the optimum EF-TEM analysis conditions. In this paper, it is demonstrated that (i) our model colloids are morphologically representative of naturally occurring mineral/organic associations, (ii) EF-TEM allows the detection of fine xanthan ultrastructures without artefacts of conventional staining methods and (iii) submicron hematite particles can be specifically visualized and spectrometrically measured by EF-TEM within a hematite/xanthan mixture. This EF-TEM procedure appears to be appropriate for the characterization of real aquatic samples.     

Molecular weight effects on gelation and rheological properties of konjac glucomannan–xanthan mixtures

Fractions of konjac glucomannan (KGM) with various viscosity‐average molecular weights (M_v) ranging from 4.00 × 10⁵ to 2.50 × 10⁶ were prepared by hydrolysis degradation in hydrochloride acid/ethanol. Effect of M_v of KGM on the critical gelation temperature (T_gel) determined by Winter–Chambon criterion and the elasticity of KGM/xanthan mixed gels, a kind of binary gel formed by synergistic gelation, were investigated by dynamic viscoelastic measurements. It was shown that the value of T_gel of the gel was shifted to a higher temperature and the gel strength was enhanced when M_v of KGM was increased. The critical M_v (1.91 × 10⁶) was observed, above which the T_gel and elasticity of the mixed gels showed no or slight increase. It was suggested that T_gel and elasticity of KGM/xanthan mixed gels mainly depend on the structure of junction zones driven by the strong interaction between KGM and xanthan, which was gradually improved with increasing M_v of KGM. It was found that the critical strain and yield stress of the mixed gels increased monotonically with the increasing M_v of KGM. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 313–321, 2010     

黄原胶发酵中丙酮酸含量的研究

黄单胞菌XC-82. 5的突变系列株生产的黄原胶各自丙酮酸含量有明显不同·培养基中的有机酸能有效地提高黄原胶的产率，但会不同程度抑制丙酮酸的含量.K十、Fe'+ ,Mg，十在培养基中的浓度变化会对胶中的丙酮酸含量产生较显著影响.在发酵过程中，因溶氧水平的变化，不同的发酵阶段所产的‘黄原胶分子中丙酮酸含量也随之变化.     

Flow development of xanthan solutions in capillary rheometers

Flow experiments through capillaries with 0.2% xanthan in aqueous solution and 0.1 N NaCl brine were carried out to study the influence of the molecular conformation on the flow development at relatively low shear rates, from 20s^–1 to 400s^–1. Capillaries with a wide range of length-to-diameter ratios, L/D = 4.5 to 1015 were used.The apparent viscosity as a function of L/D at a constant shear rate shows a continuous decrement of the viscosity as L/D increases, until an asymptotic value is reached. The decrement in the apparent viscosity is partially explained in terms of slip. It was found that slip is a function of L/D as well as shear stress, i.e., slip develops during flow, thus inducing spatial anisotropy in the fluid until a stable state is reached. However, the substantial difference in apparent viscosity between short capillaries and capillaries longer than 300 D may be attributed to dominant elongational flow due to the contraction in the small capillaries and slip in long capillaries.The flow in a sufficiently long capillary can be divided in four regions rather than three, as is usually assumed. In the first region, which corresponds to the entry, elongational and shear flow coexist and elongational flow dominant. In the second region, end effects and slip development are coupled. In the third region the flow is fully developed and end effects are negligible. However, the fluid shows physical characteristics different from those of the fluid at rest, as a consequence of prior slip development. The fourth zone is the exit region in which the velocity rearranges due to the change of boundary conditions. The length of each region depends on the conformation of the macromolecules and shear rate. In addition, it was found that the stiffness of xanthan increases with the increase of the ionic strength.Finally, a performance of Bagley's analysis in the whole range of L/D studied showed that the use of the Bagley correction is not a reliable way to correct for end effects when the flow is not fully developed and/or in the presence of slip.Dedicated to Arthur S. Lodge at the occasion of his 70th birthday and his retirement from the University of Wisconsin.     

Study on the constitutive equation with fractional derivative for the viscoelastic fluids – Modified Jeffreys model and its application

Based on the classic linear viscoelastic Jeffreys model, a modified Jeffreys model is suggested. The corresponding five-parameter equation with fractional derivatives of different orders of the stress and rate of strain is stated and the characteristic material functions of the linear viscoelasticity theory, such as the dynamic moduli, are derived. The comparison between the measured dynamic moduli of Sesbania gel and xanthan gum and the theoretical predictions of the proposed phenomenological model shows an excellent agreement. Received: 26 August 1997 Accepted: 26 May 1998     

Biopolymer Synthesized by Strains of Xanthomonas sp Isolate from Brazil Using Biodiesel-Waste

The future supplies and usage of glycerol are expected to increase as biodiesel plants increase production, and the output will greatly outpace demand. Biodiesel production has already had a significant impact on the price of refined glycerol. A major concern of glycerol producers is the reduced price of glycerol resulting from the increased production of biodiesel. Some alternative uses for this glycerol that have been investigated are substrates for fermentation process or the production of biosurfactants, fatty acids, biopolymers, and others products. This work had as objective to evaluate two strains of Xanthomonas sp isolate from Brazil for xanthan gum in orbital agitator, analizing the apparent viscosity of aqueous solutions and selecting viscosity. The experiments of xanthan gum production were realized in orbital agitator with 120 rpm agitation, for cells production, and 180rpm, for biopolymer production, under a 28 °C temperature. The rheology of the fermentation broth was analyzed by apparent viscosity and the polymer was recovered with ethanol (1:3, v/v). After its recovery, the productivity evaluation was performed. The productivity were 0.157 and 0.363 gL⁻¹ for C1 and 0.186 and 0.363 gL⁻¹ for C9 to media glycerol or glycerol and sucrose, respectively. The viscosity analysis was performed for aqueous solutions 3%, at 25 °C, the best apparent viscosity was obtained using gum synthesized with glycerol and sucrose (50:50) at 25 °C, 143 mPa.s⁻¹ from Xanthomonas sp C1.     

Rheokinetic study of gel-breaking process of xanthan gum solution

The dynamic rheological behavior of xanthan gum (XG) during the gel-breaking process was studied in this work. Both experimental and numerical simulations were adopted to investigate the effects of temperature and added salt on the gel-breaking process. The results showed that the gel-breaking reaction is slowed down by the added salt, while temperature has a positive influence on the chemical degradation of XG. The novel rheokinetics equations were established to describe the gel-breaking process of XG and the simulated values are in good agreement with experimental data. The changes of the model parameters with respect to temperature and added salt are consistent with the experimental results obtained with rheometer, which verifies the feasibility of the established rheokinetics equations for characterizing the gel-breaking reaction of XG.     

Viability of Biopolymers for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Xanthan gum and scleroglucan are assessed as environmentally friendly enhanced oil recovery (EOR) agents. Viscometric and interfacial tension measurements show that the polysaccharides exhibit favorable viscosifying performance, robust shear tolerance, electrolyte tolerance, and moderate interactions with surfactants. Non-ionic surfactants and anionic surfactants bind to xanthan gum and transform the backbone conformation from a strong helix to a more flexible structure, reducing the viscosifying efficacy of xanthan. In contrast, non-ionic surfactants and anionic surfactants bind to scleroglucan and increase the viscosifying efficacy by non-electrostatic interactions or imparted electrostatic effects. The two polysaccharides are technically viable as viscosifying agents in typical EOR injection fluid formulations.