Preparation and Differential Scanning Calorimetric Studies of a New Water-absorbing Polysaccharide from a Bacterium Belonging to the Family Oxalobacteraceae

摘要

A Gram-negative bacterium,strain IM944,belonging to the family Oxalobacteraceae which produced a new water-absorbing polysaccharide(WAP)was isolated from soil.The water-absorbing capacity of the WAP purified by the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide treatment in a potassium hydroxide solution was 120 times as much as its own weight without stickiness.The differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)of WAP showed the reversible heat transition at a peak temperature of 60.5deg C,suggesting that this polysaccharide sample is homogeneous and forms a highly ordered structure in aqueous solutions.