Durante as últimas décadas, o interesse em polímeros anfifílicos tem aumentado continuamente. Neste trabalho, o comportamento do copolímero hidrofílico/hidrofóbico poli(acrilamida-b-N,N-dihexilacrilamida) (PADHA) na interface sólido/líquido foi estudado para se quantificar a adsorção quando o equilíbrio do sistema é atingido. Na interface água/arenito, a isoterma de adsorção para a PADHA mostrou uma forma incomum, caracterizada pela ausência de uma região de patamar e um aumento contínuo na quantidade adsorvida com a concentração polimérica. Esta forma de adsorção particular poderia ser explicada pela formação de múltiplas camadas devido a associações hidrofóbicas, através das quais as camadas adsorvidas seriam formadas, em parte, por algumas cadeias que não estão diretamente em contato com a superfície sólida.

During the last few decades, interest in amphiphilic polymers has increased steadily. In this work, the behavior of the hydrophilic/hydrophobic copolymer poly(acrylamide-b-N,N-dihexylacrylamide) (PADHA) at a solid/liquid interface has been studied to quantify adsorption at equilibrium. At the water/sandstone interface, the adsorption isotherm for PADHA show an unusual profile, characterized by the absence of a "plateau" region and a monotonic increase in the adsorbed amount with polymer concentration in the bulk. This particular adsorption profile could be explained by the formation of multiple layers caused by hydrophobic associations, the adsorbed layers being partly formed by chains that are not directly in contact with the surface.

Among the biodegradable polymers, the polysaccharides have been found to be promising carriers for bioactive molecules. From a general standpoint, they present several reactive groups, such as hydroxyl, carboxyl and amine, that can be modified in a number of ways, giving rise to suitable devices for controlled release. In this paper, agarose was submitted to O-acetylation reactions under heterogeneous conditions, using acetic anhydride and pyridine, aiming to observe the effect of acetyl groups on the agarose properties. The products were characterized by Infrared and ¹H NMR spectroscopies. In the range of average acetylation degrees (DA) 0.07-0.48, the polymers presented partial solubility in boiling water and in common organic solvents. The ¹H NMR spectra presented evidences of non-homogeneous acetyl group distribution along the chains, as concluded from the solubility of only one of the fractions with DA<0.09, in boiling water .

Neste trabalho, duas frações de xilana, denominadas xilana A e xilana B, foram isoladas a partir de sabugos de milho através de três processos diferentes, combinando métodos de extração aquosa, remoção de lipídeos, deslignificação e extração alcalina. Os produtos obtidos durante os processos foram analisados por termogravimetria. A etapa de deslignificação foi responsável por uma acentuada degradação dos polímeros, evidenciada por queda de rendimento e resistência térmica. Os espectros obtidos no infravermelho evidenciaram a ausência de ácidos urônicos na cadeia polimérica. As viscosidades intrínsecas obtidas para a xilana A (56 mL/g) e xilana B (75 mL/g) associadas aos resultados do infravermelho sugerem um número maior de grupos substituintes, constituídos basicamente por resíduos de L-arabinose, para a xilana B.

In this work, two fractions of xylan, named xylan A and xylan B, were isolated from corncobs through three different processes using aqueous extraction, lipid removal, delignification, and alkaline extraction. The products obtained during the processes were analysed by thermogravimetry. The delignification step was responsible for the occurrence of an accentuated polymer degradation, evidenced by yield and thermal resistance decrease. Infrared spectra indicated the absence of uronic acids in the polymeric chains. Intrinsic viscosities obtained for xylan A (56 mL/g) and xylan B (75 mL/g), associated to the results from i.r. analysis, suggested a higher number of substituents, basically constituted of L-arabinose residues, in the case of xylan B.

Certain biopolymers are capable of forming physically cross-linked gels in aqueous medium, stabilized by forces such as Coulombic, charge transfer, hydrogen bonding, dipole-dipole, van der Waals, and hydrophobic interactions. The mathematical description of these physical networks are difficult, but should contribute to a better understanding of the gelling process. The Clark and Ross-Murphy model was applied to experimental data for agarose-guar gum mixed systems, in which only agarose is the gelling polysaccharide. A computational routine based on the statistical maximum likehood principle was employed to estimate the f, K and a characteristic parameters. Statistical t-test and F-test were used to analyse the set of parameters.