title: Gelling of otherwise nongelable polysaccharides.
abstract: It was shown first that solutions of nongelable polysaccharides, including such practically important ones as chitosan, hyaluronate, and cyclodextrin, can be gelled by generating silica in situ via sol-gel processing. This could be done owing to a novel silica precursor that is completely water-soluble and compatible with biopolymers. The gelation was caused by mineralization of carbohydrate macromolecules, which strengthened them and provided their cross-linking.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Far East Department, Russian Academy of Sciences, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia. yas@ich.dvo.ru
authors.forename: Yurii A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Shchipunov
authors.forename: Tat'yana Yu
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Karpenko
authors.forename: Anna V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Krekoten
authors.forename: Irina V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Postnova
mesh_terms: D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D011134:Polysaccharides; D012996:Solutions