Esterification of alpha-glucan comprising alpha-1,6 glycosidic linkages
AssigneeNutrition & Biosciences USA 4, Inc.
InventorsOLIVER PETERMANN, HELEN S. M. LU, JUERGEN ENGELHARDT, ZHENGZHENG HUANG, DOUGLAS J. ADELMAN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods are disclosed herein for producing ester derivatives of alpha-glucan comprising alpha-1,6 linkages. Such methods can comprise esterifying an alpha-glucan in an esterification reaction composition comprising a liquid reaction medium that contains water and/or organic solvent(s), for example. Esterification reactions can proceed in the form of slurries in some aspects. Further disclosed are alpha-glucan ester compositions produced by the disclosed processes, as well as various applications of using these compositions.
Claims15
A method of producing an ester derivative of an alpha-glucan, said method comprising:
- (a) contacting an alpha-glucan in a reaction composition with at least one esterification agent comprising an organic group, wherein the reaction composition comprises a solvent that comprises (i) water and/or (ii) organic solvent, wherein the solvent has a pH of at least about 9.0,
- wherein at least about 50% of the glycosidic linkages of the alpha-glucan are alpha-1,6 linkages,
- wherein at least one organic group is esterified to the alpha-glucan thereby producing an alpha-glucan ester derivative, wherein the alpha-glucan ester derivative has a degree of substitution (DoS) up to about 3.0 with said organic group, and
- (b) optionally isolating the alpha-glucan ester derivative from at least a portion of the solvent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.