Synthesis, physicochemical, structural and rheological characterizations of carboxymethyl xanthan derivatives

• Carboxymethylated xanthan derivatives were prepared with different DS.
• Derivatives were characterized in terms of physico-chemical, structural and rheological properties.
• Both FTIR and H1 NMR analyses confirmed the grafting of carboxymethyl groups.
• Derivatives obtained with increasing DS presented greater hydrophilicity and lower molecular weights.
• Rheological study revealed that the shear-thinning behavior of derivatives was conserved and decreases with DS.

The aim of this work was to synthesize a carboxymethylated xanthan (CMXG) via an etherification reaction between different ratios (2, 4, and 6) of xanthan gum (XG) and monochloroacetic acid (MCAA) using the Williamson synthesis method. The synthetized products were characterized in terms of their physico-chemical and rheological properties. Both FTIR and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H1 NMR) analyses confirmed the grafting of carboxymethyl groups on xanthan hydroxyl groups. The obtained results demonstrated that the degree of substitution was proportional to the chloroacetic acid and xanthan gum ratios. The obtained carboxymethyl derivatives presented greater hydrophilicity and lower molecular weights with increasing degrees of substitution than native xanthan gum. The rheological study revealed that the viscosity of the CMXG derivatives decreased with the degree of substitution and with the conservation of the shear-thinning and weak gel behaviours. The flow curves suggested the existence of two different populations of particles consisting of CMXG particles with a smaller average size and a second population formed by the residual fractions of native XG particles. It was also found that the elastic modulus of XG was largely higher than that of the CMXG derivatives and decreased with increasing DS. For the CMXG derivatives, two regions of viscoelastic behaviour were observed, which were separated by a crossover point corresponding to the critical frequency and relaxation time, i.e., the time required for stress relaxation.