Physical Chemistry and Industrial Application of Gellan Gum

Gellan gum, a microbial polysaccharide, consisting of tetra-saccharide unit, glucose, glucuronic acid, glucose and rhamnose, forms a transparent gel which is heat-resistant in the presence of divalent cations. Since 1989, the collaborative research group was organised in the Research Group of Polymer Gels affiliated to the Society of Polymer Science, Japan, consisting of various laboratories with different disciplines to clarify the mechanism using the common purified sample. This special issue contains 19 papers on the molecular conformation, gel-sol transition, interaction of gellan and water, cations and sugar, based on rheology, NMR, ESR, DSC, light scattering, osmotic pressure, small angle x-ray scattering, dielectric measurement, atomic force microscopy and the industrial application of gellan gum presented at the 4th International Conference on Hydrocolloids - OCUIS '98 by the collaborative group members and by international experts.

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R. Takahashi, M. Akutu, K. Kubota, K. Nakamura: Characterization of gellan gum in aqueous NaC1 solution .- E. Ogawa: Temperature dependence of conformational properties of Na-type gellan gum in aqueous solutions .- S. Matsukawa, Z. Tang, T. Watanabe: Hydrogen bonding behavior of gellan in solution during structural change observed by 1H NMR and CD methods .- M. Annaka, J. Honda, T. Nakahira, H. Seki, M. Tokita: Multinuclear NMR study on sol-gel transition of gellan gum .- A. Tsutsumi, T. Ozawa, M. Okada, T. Hiraoki: ESR study on sol-gel transition of gellan gum aqueous solution by the addition of paramagnetic metal-ion .- N. Shinyashiki, T. Sakai, G. Yamada, S. Yagihara: Dielectric study on dynamics for aqueous solution of gellan gum .- Y. Yuguchi, H. Urakawa, S. Kitamura, K. Kajiwara: Sol-gel transition of gellan gum aqueous solution in the presence of various salts or monodisaccharides .-Y. Izumi, S. Saito, K. Soma: DSC and structural studies of sol-gel transition of gellan gum in water .- M Akutu, K. Kubota, K. Nakamura: Light scattering, sound velocity and viscoelastic behavior of aqueous gellan solutions .- T. Takigawa, K. Nakajima, T. Masuda: Rheological properties of gellan/water system .- E. Miyoshi, K. Nishinari: Rheological and thermal properties near the sol-gel transition of gellan gum aqueous solutions .- E. Miyoshi, K. Nishinari: Effects of sugar on the sol-gel transition in gellan gum aqueous solutions .- S. Matsukawa, Z. Huang, T. Watanabe: Structural change of polymer chains in gelation process of gellan monitored by circular dichroism .- T. Hatakeyama, K. Nakamura, M. Takahashi, H. Hatakeyama: Phase transition of gellan-water system .- V.J. Morris, A.R. Kirby, A.P. Gunning: A fibrous model for gellan gels from AFM studies .- E.R. Morris, R.K. Richardson, L.E. Whittaker: Rheology and gelation of deacylated gellan polysaccharide with Na+ as sole counterion .- G. Sworn, S. Kasapis: Molecular origins of the rheology of high sugar gellan gum systems .- T. Omoto, Y. Uno, I. Asai: The latest technologies for application of gellan gum .- N.A. Morrison, G. Sworn, R.C. Clark, Y.L. Chen, T. Talashek: Gelatin alternatives for the food industry