Thermoresponsive starch derivates with widely tuned LCSTs by introducing short oligo(ethylene glycol) spacers

Benzhi Ju; Chenglong Zhang; Shufen Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.02.057

Thermoresponsive starch derivates with widely tuned LCSTs by introducing short oligo(ethylene glycol) spacers

Carbohydr Polym. 2014 Aug 8:108:307-12. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.02.057. Epub 2014 Feb 25.

Authors

Benzhi Ju¹, Chenglong Zhang², Shufen Zhang²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, PR China. Electronic address: spacersjubenzhi@yahoo.com.cn.
² State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, PR China.

PMID: 24751278
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.02.057

Abstract

Water soluble, thermoresponsive 3-[2-butoxy(ethoxy)m]-2-hydroxypropyl starch ethers (BEmS) (m=0, 1, or 2) were prepared by reacting degraded waxy maize starch with n-butyl glycidyl ether, 3-(2-n-butoxyethyl) glycidyl ether, and 3-[2-(2-n-butoxyethoxy)ethyl] glycidyl ether, respectively. The lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs) of BEmS could be tuned to a wide range from 17.5°C to 55.0°C by changing the side chain lengths of oligo(ethylene glycol) groups and their average molar substitution (MS). The LCSTs of BEmS increase with increasing side chain length of oligo(ethylene glycol) groups when BS, BES, and BE2S have similar MS values. By contrast, an increase in BEmS concentration and addition of NaCl to the BEmS solutions could lead to a decrease in the LCSTs of BEmS. In addition, the effects of NaCl and BEmS concentrations on the LCSTs become weaker when the side chain length of oligo(ethylene glycol) groups increase.

Keywords: Oligo(ethylene glycol); Starch ethers; Thermoresponsivity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't