Intrinsic Viscosity Determination of High Molecular Weight Biopolymers by Different Plot Methods. Chia Gum Case

Abstract

The chia (Salvia hispanica) generates an abundant and viscous mucilage, this is purified with periods of heating-cooling and finally precipitated with ethanol, obtaining chia gum, CG. In this work the intrinsic viscosity is determined by different methods being Huggins taken as standard. The different methods are compared and evaluated with their respective percentage relative errors. By means of intrinsic viscosity is determined the molecular weight with a value of 3846000g/mol. This polysaccharide acquires a rod-like conformation with an "a" value, Mark-Houwink parameter, of 0.803 according to Int. J. Biological Macromol. 81 (2015) 991-999. This macromolecule is very promising and has a potential in several industrial applications such as film forming, gel, thickener, and coemulsifier.