ABSTRACT
Nature is adept at weaving (practically) one-, two-, and three-dimensional structures (Fig. 1) from aqueous, dispersed polysaccharides, through whose instrumentality it imparts form and function to living plant tissues, to wit, the cellulose skeleton of fruits and vegetables. This biopolymer is deposited naturally in bundles of microfibrils that constitute the fibrous and ribbonlike suprastructures of vegetable matter. Native starch is deposited mostly as spheroidal granules. Arguably, macromolecular assemblies with aquatic and microbial polysaccharides, in vivo, have teleological significance. Polysaccharide supramolecules may also be the product of purely chemical synthesis. The natural and chemically synthesized polysaccharides and their derivatives are collectively called gums. This unconventional class of substances is increasingly relied on to impart coherence, body, and texture to fluid substrate, in vitro. The singular property common to its members is their amphiphilicity, albeit to different degrees, which enables them to associate with polar and nonpolar molecules alike in water (surfactancy). The extent of the surfactant associations is determined by the net force generated as a result of solute-solute, surfactant-solute, and surfactant-solvent interac-
* Retired.
