Study of Konjac Glucomannan Esterification with Dicarboxylic Anhydride and Effect of Degree of Esterification on Water Absorbency

Abstract

Dicarboxylic anhydride esterified Konjac glucomannan (DCKGM) was prepared to reduce the unusual water absorbency of native Konjac Glucomannan (KGM). The dependence of degree of substitution (DS) on the reaction conditions and influence of the DS on water absorbency were studied. The esterification was conducted using refluxing KGM in hot acetic acid which contains phthalic anhydride and pyridine catalyst. The chemical structure and characteristic of DCKGM were analyzed by GPC-MALLS and FI-IR. The results showed that the water absorbency for DCKGM is inversely proportional to DS increase. DCKGM may be a promising biomaterial in application of drug carrier, heavy metal ion adsorption and functional packing materials.

Improved Stability of Emulsions in Preparation of Uniform Small-Sized Konjac Glucomanna (KGM) Microspheres with Epoxy-Based Polymer Membrane by Premix Membrane Emulsification

“…Konjac glucomannan (KGM), as a high-molecular-weight polysaccharide, has special physical characteristics such as moisture retentivity, thickening, and gelling properties [ 1 ] and bears so many hydroxyl groups that various chemical modifications can be realized on KGM molecular chains [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. KGM microspheres based on KGM powder have great application prospects in the fields of separation and purification [ 7 ], cell culture [ 8 ], enzyme and cell immobilization [ 9 ], drug delivery [ 10 ] and controlled release [ 11 ].…”