CONFORMATIONAL-CHANGES OF HYALURONATES WITH PARTIAL PALMITOYLATION AND THE ADSORPTION STRUCTURES ON THE SURFACE OF OIL DROPLETS

The palmitoyl derivatives from hyaluronates, which were useful as new polysaccharide surfactants, were used to form complexes with toluidine blue (TB) in a similar manner to native hyaluronates. However, the bi nding levels of TB decreased because the anionic sites of hyaluronates might be shielded by partially introduced palmitoyl groups. Neverthel ess, the induced Cotton effects were greatly increased for the palmito yl derivatives compared with the native polysaccharide, and reflected the conformational change of the main polysaccharide chains with palmi toyl groups. It seems that this conformational change contributes to t he adsorption behavior of the palmitoyl hyaluronates on the surface of oil droplets.