Oxygen carrier for blood substitute

A method of preparing hemoglobin modified by covalently bound inulin, comprising:

• coupling inulin units via hydroxyl groups thereon to amino groups on a hemoglobin subunit by a coupling agent selected from the group consisting of cyanogen bromide, cyanuric chloride, 2,2-dichlorobenzidine, p,p'-difluoro-m,m'-dinitrodiphenylsulfone or 2,4-dichloronitrobenzene.

A method of preparing hemoglobin modified by covalently bound inulin, comprising:

• esterifying inulin with a dicarboxylic acid, and reacting the remaining free carboxyl group of the partially reacted dicarboxylic acid with hemoglobin.