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Cellulose, starch and cyclodextrin ethers and esters are produced for many fields of application as for example oil recovery, building and ceramic materials, textile and paper industry, food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. For further development of new types of derivatives and also for a better understanding of their properties a detailed analysis of the usually complex mixtures is required. By complete degradation, separation and quantification of appropriate monomer derivatives the regioselectivity in the glucose unit can be determined. For the determination of the substitution pattern in the polymer chain partial random degradation, oligomer analysis by mass spectrometry, and subsequent statistical evaluation can be applied. The composition of products obtained by enzymatic degradation also reflects the pattern in the polymer chain. In addition a possible heterogeneity of the material must be taken into consideration, since any degradation averages the structural information.

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