Scientists from Japan and India have produced a temperature-sensitive film from guar gum.rnGuar gum, a polysaccharide, is a cheap and environmentally friendly material produced naturally by a leguminous shrub. A range of industries use the gum but its inability to form gels and high-quality films has limited its use.rnNow, Jun-ichi Kadokawa from Kagoshima University and colleagues have discovered a way to produce a thin film from the gum. They did this by treating the gum with an ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride, and heating the mixture until the gum had dissolved. They then cooled the mixture and treated it with organic liquids. The team compressed the resulting gel to form a stable film.
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