Structure, Hydration and Interactions of Native and Hydrophobically Modified Phytoglycogen Nanoparticles.

Structure, Hydration and Interactions of Native and Hydrophobically Modified Phytoglycogen Nanoparticles. Biomacromolecules. 2020 Aug 21;: Authors: Simmons J, Nickels JD, Michalski M, Grossutti M, Shamana H, Stanley CB, Schwan AL, Katsaras J, Dutcher JR Abstract Phytoglycogen is a highly branched polymer of glucose produced as soft, compact nanoparticles by sweet corn. Properties such as softness, porosity and mechanical integrity, combined with nontoxicity and biodegradability, make phytoglycogen nanoparticles ideal for applications involving the human body, ranging from skin moisturizing and rejuvenation agents in personal care formulations, to functional therapeutics in biomedicine. To further broaden the range of applications, phytoglycogen nanoparticles can be chemically modified with hydrophobic species such as octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA). Here, we present a self-consistent model of the particle structure, water content and degree of chemical modification of the particles, as well as the emergence of well-defined interparticle spacings in concentrated dispersions, based on small angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements of aqueous dispersions of native phytoglycogen nanoparticles and particles that were hydrophobically modified using octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA) in both its protiated (pOSA) and deuterated (dOSA) forms. Measurements on native particles with reduced polydispersity have allowed us to refine the particl...
Source: Biomacromolecules - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Biomacromolecules Source Type: research