Deuterium oxide solutions of schizophyllan, a triple-helical polysaccharide, undergoing an order-disorder transition centered at 17 degrees C, were studied by optical rotation (OR) and heat capacity (C(p)) to elucidate the molecular mechanism of the transition and water structure in the solution and frozen states. The ordered structure at low temperature consisted of the side chains and water in the vicinity forming an ordered hydrogen-bonded network surrounding the helix core and was disordered at higher temperature. In the solution state appeared clearly defined transition curves in both the OR and C(p) data. The results for three samples of different molecular weights were analyzed theoretically, treating this transition as a typical linear cooperative transition from the ordered to disordered states and explained quantitatively if the molecular weight polydispersity of the sample was considered. The excess heat capacity C(EX)(p) defined as the C(p) minus the contributions from schizophyllan and D(2)O was estimated. In the frozen state it increased with raising temperature above 150 K until the mixture melted. This was compared with the dielectric increment observed in this temperature range and ascribed to unfreezable water. From the heat capacity and dielectric data, unfreezable water is mobile but more ordered than free water. In the solution state, the excess heat capacity originates from the interactions of D(2)O molecules as bound water and structured water, and so forth. Thus the schizophyllan triple helix molds water into various structures of differing orders in solution and in the solid state.

Deuterium oxide solutions of a triple-helical polysaccharide schizophyllan, undergoing an order-disorder transition centered around 17 degrees C, were studied by the time-domain reflectometry (TDR) to obtain dielectric dispersions in the solution and frozen states. In the solution state, the dispersion below the transition temperature is resolved in three dispersions (relaxation times at 0 degrees C) ascribed to side chain glucose residue (1; 102 ns), structured water (s; 2.0 ns) and bulk water (h), respectively, from low to high frequencies. Bulk water is divided into slow water (h2; 0.04 ns) and free or pure water (h1; 0.02 ns). Above the transition temperature structured water almost disappears and is compensated by slow water. Structured water is similar to bound water for proteins but different from it because of this transition behavior. Another dispersion (l) seen at the lowest frequency is assigned to the rotation of side-chain glucose residue coupled with hydrated water. Parts of this dispersion and structured water are suggested to constitute bound water. In the frozen state were observed a major dispersion (h; 0.14 ns) and a minor one (m; 28 ns), which were ascribed to considerably mobile and less mobile waters. They are similar to but not exactly the same as that for unfreezable water in bovine serum albumin solutions argued by Miura et al. (Biopolymers, 1995, Vol. 36, p. 9). Water is molded into different structures by the triple helix.

Schizophyllan and scleroglucan are water-soluble polysaccharides having repeating units consisting of three β-1,3-linked glucose residues in the main chain and a single β-1,6-linked glucose residue as the side chain. This polysaccharide dissolves as a triple helix in an aqueous solution and shows a cooperative order-disorder transition between the side chain and solvent molecules while retaining the triple helical conformation. Periodate and subsequent chlorite oxidations selectively modify the side chain glucose to provide the corresponding dicarboxylate units. Optical rotation measurements and differential scanning calorimetry were performed on carboxylated schizophyllan/scleroglucan ('sclerox') samples to investigate the effects of the degree of carboxylation on the order-disorder transition in deuterium oxide with 0.1M NaCl. The transition curves for the sclerox samples are strongly dependent on the degree of carboxylation. The modified side chains cannot take the ordered structure, resulting in a reduction of the transition enthalpy. The transition temperature for carboxylated schizophyllan becomes lowered and the transition curve broadens with increasing the degree of carboxylation. The permanent disordered units are included in a trimer by the carboxylation to inhibit a long sequence of the ordered units.

Heat capacity measurements were made on aqueous solutions of a triple-helical polysaccharide schizophyllan by precision adiabatic calorimetry over a wide range of concentrations 30.45-90.93 wt % at temperatures between 5 and 315 K. The heat capacity curves obtained were divided into four groups depending on the weight fraction of schizophyllan w regions I-IV. In region I, triple-helices with the sheath of bound water, structured water, and loosely structured water forming layers around the helix core are embedded in free water. In region II, there is no free water, and loosely structured water decreases until it vanishes, but structured water stays constant with increasing w. In region III, bound water remains unaffected, but structured water decreases with increasing w by overlapping each other. Finally, in region IV, only schizophyllan and bound water exist, the latter decreasing upon increasing w. The maximum thickness of each layer is 0.18(3) nm for bound water, 0.13(4) nm for structured water, and 0.23(6) nm for loosely structured water, and these layers of water are at the enthalpy levels of 53%, 93.7%, and nearly 100%, respectively, between ice (0%) and free water (100%).

Cholesteric pitch P was measured on D2O solutions of a triple-helical polysaccharide schizophyllan as functions of temperature and concentration. The value of P varied with concentration and temperature and showed different concentration dependencies at lower and higher temperatures, with a sudden decrease in P in between. This is due to the order−disorder transition in schizophyllan solutions around 17 °C in D2O. These data were analyzed by a statistical theory taking into account chiral repulsive and attractive interactions proposed by Sato et al. A subtle imbalance between the attractive and repulsive interactions gave rise to a large change in P. For the schizophyllan solutions, the attractive interaction changed according to the transition, while the change of the repulsive one was less remarkable. Similar analyses were performed on poly(γ-benzyl l-glutamate) data, elucidating the roles of the two interactions in determining the cholesteric structure.

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Carboxylated schizophyllan ("sclerox") is a chemically modified polysaccharide obtained by partial periodate oxidation and subsequent chlorite oxidation of schizophyllan, a water-soluble neutral polysaccharide having a β-1,3-linked glucan backbone and a β-1,6-linked d-glucose residue side chain at every third residue of the main chain. The triple helix of schizophyllan in water has a cooperative order-disorder transition associated with the side chains. The transition is strongly affected by the presence (mole fraction) of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). In the present study, the solvent effects on the order-disorder transition of sclerox with different degrees of carboxylation (DS) in water-DMSO mixtures were investigated with differential scanning calorimetry and optical rotation. The transition temperature ( T) and transition enthalpy (Δ H) strongly depended on the mole fraction of DMSO ( x). Data were further analyzed with the statistical theory for the linear cooperative transition, taking into account the solvent effect, where DMSO molecules are selectively associated with the unmodified side chains. The modified side chain does not contribute to the transition; hence, Δ H decreases with increasing DS. The dependence of T on the DMSO content becomes weaker than that for unmodified schizophyllan. The theoretical analyses indicated that the number of sites binding with the DMSO molecule and the successive ordered sequence of the ordered unit of the triple helix are changed by carboxylation.

Carboxylated schizophyllan (sclerox) samples of different degrees of oxidation were molecularly characterized by size exclusion chromatography equipped with a multi-angle light scattering detector (SEC-MALS) in 0.10 M aqueous NaCl solution. The molar mass distribution obtained by SEC-MALS shows that sclerox of low degree of oxidation is dissolved mainly as the trimer, whereas the trimer and single chain coexist in solution of sclerox of high degree of oxidation. The trimer of sclerox is much more flexible than the fully ordered triple helix of the parent schizophyllan and easily dissociates into single chains upon heating.