Synthesis, characterization and aqueous self-assembly of octenylsuccinic corn dextrin ester with high molecular weight

The effects of structural and environmental parameters on the self-assembly of octenylsuccinic corn dextrin ester (OSCDE) were investigated. OSCDEs with different degrees of substitution (DS) and molecular weights (M-w) were prepared and their aqueous assemblies were characterized with zeta-potential measurement, dynamic light scattering (DLS), fluorescence spectroscopy and TEM. Beyond its critical aggregation concentration (CAC), OSCDE produced spherical self-assemblies in water. For structural parameters, the higher the DS or the lower the M-w, the lower the CAC value was. Increase in DS or decrease in M-w definitively decreased the size of OSCDE self-assemblies which ranged from 194.5 to 455 nm. The zeta-potential of self-assemblies indicates a negative charge with an absolute value that increased with the increasing DS and M-w of OSCDE. For environmental parameters, pH and ionic strength exerted stronger impact on size and zeta-potential of the assemblies than OSCDE concentration. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.