Indican and suspensions and gels thereof and their uses

Abstract

Indican, a polysaccharide comprising (1.fwdarw.3) glucose, (1.fwdarw.4) mannose, (1.fwdarw.4) rhamnose and (1.fwdarw.3 or 4) -0-(1-carboxyethyl)-rhamnose units in a molar ratio of about 2:1:1-2:1 respectively; containing 12-15% by weight acetyl units; [.alpha.]D.sup.20 about -61.degree.; having principle absorption bands in the infra red band at 3390, 1735, 1615, 1375, 1250 and 1050 cm.sup.-1 ; a solubility of at least 1% by weight in methanol and in ethylene glycol, and an inherent viscosity of about 33.5 dl/g. has useful thixotropic properties and provides a method of modifying the viscosity of a liquid by incorporating indican therein. The liquid may be aqueous or organic solvent-based. Thickened and stabilized products and a method of preparing indican by culture of an indican-producing microorganism are also provided.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.