Abstract
Electron microscopy of xanthan indicates that this biopolymer can exist as a single- or double-stranded or partly dissociated double-stranded structure depending on the ionic strength prior to preparation for electron microscopy. Welan appears as a uniform thick, convoluted structure with contour length varying from molecule to molecule. The two-dimensional spatial correlation of the tangent direction indicates that the persistence length of double-stranded xanthan in 100mM ammonium acetate is 150 nm; the persistence length of single-stranded xanthan in 2 mM ammonium acetate is observed to be 60 nm and the persistence length of welan in 100 mM ammonium acetate is observed to be 80 nm.
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Stokke, B.T., Smidsrød, O., Marthinsen, A.B.L., Elgsaeter, A. (1988). Conformational Analysis of Xanthan and Welan Using Electron Microscopy. In: Stahl, G.A., Schulz, D.N. (eds) Water-Soluble Polymers for Petroleum Recovery. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1985-7_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1985-7_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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