Polysaccharides from mushrooms are a very important group of natural polysaccharides that have been attributed various bioactivities including anti-tumor, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-allergenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, hypotensive, hypocholesterolemic and pain-relieving properties. The most important effects of mushroom polysaccharides are...

Starches isolated from different crops and mutants have different structures and properties. High-amylose starch, which consists of more than 50% linear amylose-molecules, has been demonstrated as a superior polysaccharide material to normal or waxy starch that consists of highly branched molecules of amylopectin. Films made from high-amylose maize starch display better...

Here, the topic of the presentation consists of preparation of the high-regioselectively alkylated celluloses and several of their properties, such as solubility, meltability, Langmuir-Blodgett film forming properties and so on. Furthermore, the preparation and properties of the first cellulosic photocurrent-generation films are discussed...

The surface and in-depth chemical modification of cellulose fibers, aimed at (i) using them as reinforcing elements in composite materials with polymeric matrices; (ii) inducing highly hydrophobic and lipophobic properties through the grafting of perfluoro moieties; and (iii) preparing novel composite morphologies characterized by the fact that cellulose plays the role of both the matrix and the reinforcement, thanks to the formation of a..

Mixed polysaccharide-surfactant systems have broad applications. A review of the underlying polymer-surfactant association in bulk is given. While ionic surfactants bind broadly to polysaccharides, nonionics only do so if the polymer has a lower polarity and can interact by hydrophobic interactions. Water-soluble polysaccharides, which have hydrophobic groups, form physical cross-links, hence their important use as...

Galactoglucomannans (GGMs) are readily soluble in water even at high concentrations. GGMs are good steric stabilizers for oil-in-water emulsions as documented first with wood resin emulsions in papermaking waters. GGMs are sorbed irreversibly to cellulose-rich fibres, especially after deacetylation, improving paper strength properties. GGM films are good barriers against air and oxygen. GGMs also have interesting biological properties such as immunomodulating and radical-scavenging activities. In conclusion, GGMs have potential for various applications, for example, in...

As the digital age continues to displace conventional uses of paper and new bioplastics for packaging are brought to the market one can ask what will happen to the pulp mill in the future. In reality, the foundations for transforming pulp mills into biorefineries is...

Our main objective is to understand the fundamentals of cell wall formation in plants and to exploit this knowledge to generate novel biomaterials with high-performance properties. This lecture will give an overview of the current knowledge on cellulose biosynthesis and provide examples in which the fundamentals of plant cell wall formation are exploited for engineering cellulosic fibers...

Polysaccharides and mixture of polysaccharides have been widely used in the food industry as stabilizers, gelling and viscosity enhancement agents to impart stability, texture and appearance to fabricated foods. They are also used in cosmetics and personal care products as moisturiser and stabilizers, such as in creams and lotions. These applications are based on the functional properties of polysaccharides which are determined by...

Most of the semiconductor photocatalysts are prone to photocorrosion in photocatalytic reactions, leading to the decrease of their stability and energy conversion efficiency. Moreover, it is difficult to recover the nanoparticles from water after use, posing potential environmental and biological risks. In this work, cellulose was dissolved rapidly in 7 wt% NaOH/12 wt% urea aqueous solution pre-cooled to -12 oC to prepare a transparent film. The regenerated cellulose film at wet state possessed porous structure, thus the portable photocatalysts were successfully fabricated by...

We have explored refined forest biomass containing mainly hemicelluloses, being an abundantly available but unused raw material as well as a non-toxic potential biomaterial, as a promising resource for functional hydrogel production. A series of hydrogel release systems, both discs and microspheres, based on the synthetically functionalized hemicellulose (O-acetyl galactoglucomannan, AcGGM) were developed, using...

We have investigated the use of linter and sisal cellulose esters in films reinforced with cellulose, of linter and sisal cellulose/chitosan mixtures in biofilms, cellulose textile fibers as reinforcement of thermoset matrices, cellulose and chitosan polyelectrolyte derivatives as stabilizing agents of colloidal alumina suspensions, sisal cellulose as an alternative saccharification raw material. Overall, the present set of results confirms...

Today, the main challenge is to design new architectures molecule-based oligosaccharides or polysaccharides: "hybrid block copolymer". Such systems exhibit a remarkable capacity to self-assemble into a great variety of macromolecular structures both in the solution (nanoparticles) and bulk state (thick and thin films), whose dimensions span from few to hundred nanometres. Their final nano-organization results from...

The accessibility of the hydroxyl groups (heterogeneous versus homogeneous systems) in combination with a controlled activation of the reagents is an important to control the reactions. Some comments will be given about the use of novel solvents (DMSP/TBAF and Ionic Liquids) in the field of cellulose chemistry. An interesting path preparing tailored products is the nucleophilic displacement starting from...

When softwood bleached kraft pulp is used as the starting material, cellulose nanofibers 4-5 nm in width and at least 2-3 micrometers in length dispersed in water are obtained quantitatively by the TEMPO-mediated oxidation and the successive mild disintegration in water. Because anionically-charged sodium carboxylate groups are formed selectively on the surfaces of cellulose microfibrils...

Advanced conversion technologies are, however, needed to produce biofuels, such as ethanol or butanol, from lignocellulosic biomass. The major technological obstacles are in the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose into sugars, due to the recalcitrance and complex structure of the raw material itself, and in the fermentative conversion of sugars into ethanol or other energy carriers. During the last 10 years, significant improvements in bioconversion technologies have been achieved. This is mainly due to...

This presentation attempts to show the trend of nanofiber technology for cellulose from the viewpoints of fundamentals and recent techniques. Further, our recent technique, nano-pulverization by the aqueous counter collision, successfully decomposes the interactions selectively without any damage to the molecular structure, and finally liberates the components at various sizes into water to provide a transparent and homogeneous component/water system. The obtained nanocellulose fibers have been...

In this presentation we will discuss a comprehensive bioanalytical platform that facilitates a better understanding of the mechanism and main variables that affect degradation of cellulose to simple oligomeric sugars. Validation of the proposed biosensing methods involves investigations of...

Cellulose is widely used in paper and board products where mechanical function is important. However, in many cases the final product design is strongly determined by criteria such as high processing speed and low material cost. As a consequence, the full potential of cellulose in terms of physical and chemical characteristics is rarely realized. Recent research has demonstrated the possibility to prepare nanostructured cellulosic materials of greatly extended properties. Such nanocomposites have shown...

Oligo and polysaccharides have a large number of important biological and structural functions with industrial applications. They are normally obtained from the recovery of natural composite materials such as plant cell walls. Though this aproach is relatively cheap and simple it has to deal with the limited availability of natural structures and their tedious extraction. Enzymatic synthesis by either glycosyltransferases and glycosidases offers...

Oats (Avena Nuda) is rich in nutrition and coincided with the Chinese traditional idea of medicine and foods had the same healthy functionality. There are some reports on the oat consuming can enhance exercise performance, but the mechanism was not clear. In this work the anti-fatigue effect with the model rats fed with normal feed, oat beta -glucan rich feed, oat whoel meal feed was studied. The results showed...

The health benefits of barley/oat beta-glucans are well documented, including reduction of heart disease risk and regulation of blood glucose levels. The main mechanism associated with these health benefits is attributed to the high viscosity that beta-glucan imparts to intestinal contents. The viscosity of beta-glucan is a strong function of...

In our early work, cellulose has been discovered as a smart material. This newly discovered material is termed as electro-active paper (EAPap) that has merits in terms of lightweight, flexible, dryness, biodegradable, biocompatible, easy to chemically modify and cheap. The actuation principle of cellulose EAPap actuator is known to be a combination of piezoelectric effect and ion migration effect. This paper will present further investigation of cellulose EAPap for biomimetic actuator..

Ethylcellulose grafting polycaprolactone monoacrylate copolymer (EC-g-PCLA) was synthesized by a two-step reaction of ethylcellulose (EC) with poly(caprolactone monoacrylate) (PCLA). The isocyanate-terminated intermediate (NCOPCLA) was prepared firstly and then

The preparation of Nanocomposite materials based on polymers and metal nanoparticles is a challenge that can lead to new applications for different purposes. In the field of Biomaterials polymers containing silver nanoparticles are generally considered effective in retarding and preventing bacterial infections. The basic idea is to combine the...

The functionalization of dextrans is of increasing interest to improve emulsifying properties, induce nanoparticle formation or allow coating of surfaces. Alkynyl ethers could be further functionalized by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to various azides [3]. Since distribution of functional groups amongst others decisively determines the properties...

Contamination by pathogenic microorganisms and oxidative reactions have the greatest impact on limiting the shelf life of perishable foods. During the past several years, consumer demand for 'fresh', preservative-free foods has been growing, leading to growing interest in active packaging that reduce or eliminate consumption of preservatives. Combining bioactive agents directly with a material could provide several advantages, discussed with respect to the type of active matrices. Moreover, if materials were..

Chitosan, an anionic polyelectrolyte when dissolved in aqueous media moderately acid, is proposed for many applications in medicine, pharmacy and dentistry due the fact that it is a biocompatible, biodegradable and non-toxic polymer. However, its limited solubility represents a serious drawback to many of its potential applications and chemical modifications are generally designed to improve the polymer processability as well as to modify some of its properties such as...

Oligosaccharides are an important group of polymeric carbohydrates having a degree of polymerisation of 2-10 that are found either free or in combined forms in all living organisms. Unlike polysaccharides (cellulose, starch, chitin, pectin...) which have met many industrial applications in food, cosmetics or plastics because of their natural abundance, the wide range of physical and biological properties resulting from the tremendous structural diversity of oligosaccharides have been...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the short and long term impact of multi-layered chitosan hydrogels on the quality of skin regeneration. As shown by histological studies, chitosan physical hydrogels implants did not induce...

Aqueous solution of industrially produced methylcellulose with DS approx. 1.8 shows the striking behavior of phase separation on heating. The methylcellulose is believed to be an alternate polymer, which consists of densely and less densely methylated sequences. The alternating chemical structure of methylcellulose is said to be of importance for...

We have found that a new family of cellulose derivatives is ideally suited to form amorphous matrices with many drug molecules. These renewable polymer derivatives have a unique combination of attractive properties for drug delivery; pH-controlled release to reduce stomach exposure; slow, and in many cases zero-order release to permit once a day oral formulations; excellent compressibility; and the ability to...

The manufacturing obstacles, potential use of MFC in various sectors and particularly in the paper and packaging sector will be reviewed. The presentation aims at answering basic issues around MFC and...

Although the literature shows that boronic acids can form esters in water with cis diols, cellulose is not considered a source of cis diols. A number of experiential results are presented to support the explanation that the phenylboronic acid can form bonds with the oxidizing end of

In this presentation we describe the latest development of large scale 2nd generation biofuels in Denmark. The development has been focused not only on the efficiency by which a given biomass can be converted to ethanol, but also how from a land use- and energy efficiency point of view, the...

In future biorefineries the whole biomass will be utilised, and traditional biomass uses such as food and paper production will be balanced with bulk and specialty chemicals and materials production. It is important to be able to use the so called 2nd generation biomasses, waste streams and lignocellulosic materials, in industrial production and efficiently convert cellulose and hemicellulose derived hexose and pentose sugars through microbial fermentation to the desired products. Large scale production processes have been developed for bioethanol production and production of bioplastics precursors such as...

A high aspect ratio and specific surface area combined with high strength and flexibility are characteristic for cellulose nanofibrils. Functional hydroxyl groups in cellulose also enable surface chemical modifications, increasing their potential in several applications. The other possibility is to modify surface by grafting certain polysaccharides on nanocellulose surfaces or by adsorbing...

The colloidal probe technique provides a powerful tool for understanding polysaccharide interactions at the nanocontact level. Both frictional and adhesive interactions can be probed using this approach. Such measurements are even more powerful when...

The kinetics of adsorption of polymers onto cellulose surfaces can be studied with various methods, of which we have used quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). However, while SPR gives the adsorbed mass of polymer only, QCM-D reveals the...