The physical and structural properties of acrylamide gels have been characterized by osmotic deswelling, mechanical compression, and x‐ray scattering. These properties vary considerably with the concentration of the crosslinking agent bisacrylamide, at fixed total monomers concentration (10% wt/wt water). In particular, changes in the properties appear more prominent at a crosslinking level of about 5‐6% (wt bisacrylamide/wt monomers). The compression modulus of as‐prepared and swollen gels passes through a maximum at this level of crosslinking. The swelling pressure curves can be separated into osmotic and elastic contributions of the gel network. The elastic part exhibits similar behavior to the compression modulus. The scaling of the osmotic part with the gel concentration varies with the degree of crosslinking, changing from 2.33 to 3.09. This indicates that the solvent power of water decreases with increasing crosslinking level, towards Φ conditions. The scattering patterns from the gels have been analyzed as arising from additive contributions from a homogeneous gel matrix, and embedded heterogeneities having a higher crosslinking density. These heterogeneities become much more prominent at the same level of crosslinking about 5‐6%. Hysteresis observed in the sorption/desorption behavior of polyacrylamide gel suggests that further irreversible structural changes may occur at water activities lower than probed by osmotic deswelling. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The swelling of poly(acrylamide) (PAAm) gels and the osmotic pressure of linear PAAm in aqueous solutions were predominantly affected by anion type and increased according to the lyotropic series ranking of sodium halide anions: F− < (H2O) < Cl− < Br− < I−. The osmotic pressure of PAAm in all examined salt solutions followed the scaling theory, with an exponent of 2.3 ± 0.1. In solutions of a sodium halide series, the value of the pre‐exponential factor seemed to depend on salt concentration, anion radius, and the apparent “anionic‐portion radius” of the water molecule. This radius, extracted from the literature data, marks a transition point of the anion radius effect. Larger anions increase the osmotic pressure of PAAm more significantly as their concentration increases and vice versa. The effects of the anions on the osmotic pressure of PAAm are related to their preferential interactions with the polymer. Iodide, which increased the osmotic pressure of PAAm with respect to its value in pure water, seemed to preferentially adsorb onto the polymer with a binding constant of Kb = 9.7 ± 2.0 M−1 determined by isothermal titration microcalorimetry. However, fluoride, which decreased the osmotic pressure, was preferentially repulsed. The mechanisms of attraction and repulsion were attributed to ion‐water‐polymer interactions and the solvent quality of the hydrated ions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 508–519, 2003

Based on a model of a suspension of interacting particles in a pseudoplastic solvent, a rheological equation was developed which could describe the flow properties of concentrated orange juice. The function was obtained by modifying Casson’s equation and has the following form: The magnitude of the parameter ko is affected by the concentration of the suspended particles, the concentration of soluble pectin and by conditions favorable for pectin gel formation. The other two parameters, k and m, are determined mainly by the solvent properties. The mechanism responsible for the flow behaviour of the concentrated orange juice under various conditions could be predicted and explained by the properties of the components in the system.

The distance dependence for the preferential exclusion of several salts and neutral solutes from hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) has been measured via the effect of these small molecules on the thermodynamic forces between HPC polymers in ordered arrays. The concentration of salts and neutral solutes decreases exponentially as the spacing between apposing nonpolar HPC surfaces decreases. For all solutes, the spatial decay lengths of this exclusion are remarkably similar to those observed between many macromolecules at close spacings where intermolecular forces have been ascribed to the energetics of water structuring. Exclusion magnitudes depend strongly on the nature and size of the particular salt or solute; for the three potassium salts studied, exclusion follows the anionic Hofmeister series. The change in the number of excess waters associated with HPC polymers is independent of solute concentration suggesting that the dominating interactions are between solutes and the hydrated polymer. These findings further confirm the importance of solvation interactions and reveal an unexpected unity of Hofmeister effects, preferential hydration, and hydration forces.

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The swelling of dextran gels (Sephadex) in salt solutions with a water activity of 0.937, compared with the swelling in pure water, exhibited anion specificity as evidenced by an increased swelling ratio in the following order: Na 2 SO 4 Ͻ H 2 O Ͻ NaCl Ͻ NaSCN. The swelling ratio showed a good linear correlation with the osmotic pressure of dextran (500 kD) in these solutions. The salt-concentration difference (imbalance) between the polymer-solution side of the membrane and the polymer-free permeate side during the osmotic-pressure measurements positively correlated with the effect of the salt on the polymer osmotic pressure. These phenomena conform to Hofmeister-type (or lyotropic) behavior. The diminishing augmentation of dextran osmotic pressure and the change in the salt-concentration imbalance with rising NaSCN concentration imply a positive preferential interaction and adsorption of the salt onto the polymer.

Orange juice is a suspension of heterogeneous particles in a clear serum. The size of the particles varies between 0·05 μm and a few hundred μm. The particles with a size below 2 μm constitute the stable ‘cloud’. This fraction consists of needle‐like crystals of hesperidin, chromoplastids, amorphous (rag) particles and oil globules attached to some of these particles. The adsorption of oil globules on the rag particles enhances their stability in suspension, by decreasing their density. The hesperidin crystals are formed partly by crystallisation immediately after juice extraction. All the cloud particles exhibit a negative charge, which decreases with decreasing pH. However, it seems that hydration rather than electrical charge is responsible for the stabilisation of the cloud. Heat treatment of the juice causes an increase in the number of fine particles at the expense of coarser ones. In this process some extraction of pectin into the serum also takes place but this has little significance on the cloudiness and cloud stability of the juice.