Agarose based multifunctional materials: evaluation of thixotropy, self-healability and stretchability

Jai Prakash Chaudhary; Dharmesh R Chejara; Dipak Makwana; Kamalesh Prasad; Ramavatar Meena

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.08.024

Agarose based multifunctional materials: evaluation of thixotropy, self-healability and stretchability

Carbohydr Polym. 2014 Dec 19:114:306-311. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.08.024. Epub 2014 Aug 23.

Authors

Jai Prakash Chaudhary¹, Dharmesh R Chejara¹, Dipak Makwana², Kamalesh Prasad¹, Ramavatar Meena³

Affiliations

¹ AcSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar 364002, Gujarat, India; Scale-Up & Process Engineering Unit, CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar 364002, Gujarat, India.
² Scale-Up & Process Engineering Unit, CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar 364002, Gujarat, India.
³ AcSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar 364002, Gujarat, India; Scale-Up & Process Engineering Unit, CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, G. B. Marg, Bhavnagar 364002, Gujarat, India. Electronic address: rmeena@csmcri.org.

PMID: 25263895
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.08.024

Abstract

This paper reports a microwave assisted one pot facile synthesis of ester derivatives of agarose (Agr-GAEst) through chemical reaction of agarose (Agr) with gallic acid (GA), an organic acid found in many plants employing carbodiimide chemistry. Agr-GAEst was characterised by FT-IR, (13)C NMR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), DMA measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis spectrophotometry and rheometry. The native agarose was insoluble in ethylene glycol, but Agr-GAEst (obtained at an optimized molar ratio of 1: 0.5) formed good quality gel (tanδ ∼ 0.1) at 4% (w/v) concentration. The gel thus obtained exhibited substantial degree of thixotropy (hysteresis loop area=38.73%), rapid self-healing ability (12 min) upon complete cleavage of the gel and excellent stretching ability (>20 times of its original length). These types of multifunctional gels would find applications in food and personal health care industries.

Keywords: Agarose; Ester derivatives; Self-healing; Stretchable material; Thixotropy.

Publication types

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