Schizophyllan, a Schizophylium commune beta-D-glucan, a Tamarindus xyl
oglucan, locust bean gum, a galactomannan, a barley beta-D-glucan, and
chitosan show specific adhesion to microcrystalline cellulose (cellul
ose I). Xyloglucan, locust bean gum, barley beta-D-glucan, and chitosa
n also show the ability to adhere mercerized cellulose (cellulose: II)
, while schizophyllan does not. As the molecular weight of schizophyll
an decreases, both its ability to form triple-helical structures and i
ts adhesion to cellulose I diminish and finally disappear, indicating
that the adhesion of schizophyllan to cellulose I depends on high-mole
cular-weight domains that adopt the triple-helical structures. On the
other hand, the adhesion of locust bean gum, chitosan, and xyloglucan
to celluloses was found to be largely independent of molecular weight.
Furthermore, it is thought that the adhesion of barley beta-D-glucan
occurs because it belongs to a group of xyloglucans. (C) 1998 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.