Abstract
This review describes the application of high sensitivity DSC to the study of the conformational transitions of polysaccharides in solution. Multi-stranded structures, which have been found for certain polysaccharides, are stabilized by cooperation of numerous non-bonded interactions between sugar molecules often involving solvent molecules. Since these cooperative structures undergo conformational transitions with changing temperature, information concerning these structures can be obtained by DSC. One of major advantages of the calorimetric method as compared with optical methods is that it gives values both for the apparent, or van't Hoff, enthalpy, the quantity derived from optical experiments, and for calorimetric enthalpy. The ratio of van't Hoff enthalpy to calorimetric enthalpy can be employed to obtain an estimate of size of the cooperative unit for the process under study. As current examples of the application, studies of the conformational transitions of triple helical polysaccharide schizophyllan and of double helical polysaccharide xanthan are presented.
