Handbook of Solvents - George Wypych - ChemTech - Ventech!

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Figure 12.2.3. Role of structural, conformational and substituent features on the solution properties of oligo- and
polysaccharides.
surface that saccharide segments address to solvent molecules that allows a high degree of
favorable interactions. The water structuring in the solvation of polysaccharides also contributes
to the stability of saccharides in solution, 11 which may be altered by competition of
other co-solutes or co-solvents which are able to modify the extent of hydrogen-bonded interactions
among components. Urea, for example, is considered a breaker of ordered
polysaccharide conformation in gel networks, such as those obtained with agar and
carrageenan as well as with microbial polysaccharides.
Over the last twenty years or so, several approaches have been made to determine the
three-dimensional structure of oligosaccharides and theoretical calculations are becoming