Incorporation of fluorinated fatty acids into emulsan by Acinetobacter calcoaceticus RAG-1

✍ Scribed by Atul K Johri; Manssur Yalpani; David L Kaplan

• Book ID: 104419907
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 98 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1369-703X
• DOI: 10.1016/s1369-703x(03)00034-2

✦ Synopsis

We report the incorporation of fluorinated fatty acids into emulsan, an amphiphilic anionic heteropolysaccharide synthesized by the bacterium, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus RAG-1. The incorporation of 2-poly(perfluoropropanoxy)-methyl perfluoropropanote and the 2-[(carboxy-difluoromethoxy)-poly(perfluoromethoxy)]-poly(perfluoroethanol)-difluoroacetic acid was determined by 19 F-NMR and gas chromatography (GC)-MS analysis of the fatty acids hydrolyzed from the secreted and purified polymers. The percentage of fluorofatty acids detected was 8.5 and 5 mol%, respectively, of the total fatty acids present in emulsan for the 2-poly(perfluoropropanoxy)-methyl perfluoropropanoate and the 2-[(carboxy-difluoromethoxy)-poly(perfluoromethoxy)]-poly(perfluoroethanol)-difluoroacetic acid. The solution behavior of these modified polymers was evaluated by emulsification assay and found to be significantly higher when evaluated against short chain alkanes and lower against long chain alkanes, when compared with native emulsan. The results suggest new polymer properties can be engineered by incorporating nonnative fatty acid substituents into this family of amphiphilic polymers.