PREFACE
T
his volume is the outgrowth of a symposium on the solution properties of polysaccharides and reflects the success of the symposium in bringing
together an international group of experts engaged in studies of virtually every aspect of the solution behavior of polysaccharides. Thirty-seven chapters span the range from conformational analysis of dissolved poly-
Solution Properties of Polysaccharides Downloaded from pubs.acs.org by 95.85.70.36 on 11/17/18. For personal use only.
saccharides using spectroscopic, scattering, hydrodynamic, and theoretical methods to experimental and theoretical investigations of the interactions between dissolved polysaccharide chains and between polysaccharides and a variety of high- and low-molecular-weight ligand species. Without exception these chapters are at the forefront of the activity in their respective fields, and the book represents an unmatched resource for persons who wish to remain or become conversant with current research on polysaccharide solution properties. Chemical and biological interest in polysaccharides has begun to shift over the past decade from the structural and storage polysaccharides of plant origin, e.g. cellulose, carrageenan, and starch, toward polysaccharides of animal and, especially, microbial origin.
The existing and potential
commercial importance of extracellular microbial polysaccharides produced by fermentation using relatively inexpensive feedstocks has provided a major impetus for the increasing attention being given to these materials; the range of chemical and structural characteristics represented among the known microbial polymers and those potentially available by genetic engineering techniques can only further encourage this activity. Among polysaccharides of animal origin attention now is focused strongly on the mucopolysaccharides or proteoglycans that occur, usually in close association with protein, in the intercellular matrix of the connective tissues. This interest is motivated by evidence that abnormalities in the distribution of these substances accompany a number of serious metabolic diseases. Finally, the emerging recognition of poly- and oligosaccharides as immunochemical determinants has served as a strong stimulus for studies of polymers of both animal and microbial origin. The polysaccharides derived from these two sources are almost always highly solvated, if not actually dissolved, in their native environment. Consequently it is appropriate that investigations
of the
relationships
between the chemical structures and the physical and biological properties of these species should give special attention to their solution behavior.
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Even for those polysaccharides that are crystalline or semicrystalline in nature, solution studies must play an important role. Investigations of the solution properties of all polymers are necessary not only to obtain fundamental data concerning the mean molecular weights and molecular-weight distributions of the macromolecular species, but also to provide information about relationships between chemical structure and the inherent conformational characteristics of individual macromolecules free of interactions with other like or unlike species. Such interactions are, of course, important for the biological function and physical behavior of polysaccharides, and solution studies also provide a unique avenue to information about interactions between small numbers of polysaccharide chains or between polysaccharides and other kinds of molecules and ions. This book illustrates the diverse modern techniques currently being exploited to investigate these properties of polysaccharides in solution. University of California at Irvine
DAVID A. B R A N T
Irvine, C A 92717 November 4, 1980
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