Hydrophobic Polysaccharides: Partially 2‐Deoxygenated Amyloses

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we report that polysaccharide substrates bearing 2‐deoxygenated amylose chains are hydrophobic. A pure partially 2‐deoxygenated amylose was synthesized by the thermostable glucan phosphorylase‐catalyzed enzymatic copolymerization of d ‐glucal, a non‐native monomer, with α‐ d ‐glucose 1‐phosphate, a native monomer from maltotriose, as a primer. A water contact angle on a cast film of the resulting polysaccharide confirms that it is hydrophobic. Enzymatic copolymerization using glycogen as a polymeric primer was used to investigate the possibility of engendering hydrophilic substrates with hydrophobicity by incorporating such polysaccharide chains; the resulting glycogen‐derived films with elongated partially 2‐deoxygenated amylose chains are strongly hydrophobic.