Biobased ionic liquids as solvents of paramylon

Paramylon is a linear glucan produced by Euglena gracilis microalgae as water insoluble intracellular granules. Its macromolecular structure contains only b(1-3) linkages, resulting in a stable triple helix conformation and a high crystallinity. It is soluble in very few solvents such as DMSO, harsh alkaline or acid solutions and imidazolium ionic liquids. In this paper we prepared biosourced more ecofriendly ionic liquids which can tolerate high amounts of water as a co-solvent and which are recyclable. The sol-ubility of the paramylon was then evaluated depending of the nature of the ionic liquid and the structure and thermal properties of the biopolymer before and after solubilisation and regeneration were also discussed.(C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Paramylon is a water insoluble linear glucan produced by Euglena gracilis microalgae. It has a stable triple helix conformation and high crystallinity due to its macromolecular structure containing only b(1-3) linkages. The solubility of paramylon was evaluated using eco-friendly ionic liquids as solvents, and the structure and thermal properties of the biopolymer before and after solubilization and regeneration were discussed. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.