Current understanding of the mechanism of polysaccharide adsorption at the mineral/aqueous solution interface

Polysaccharides are adsorbed on mineral surfaces through interaction with the adsorption centers on mineral surfaces that are in the form of hydroxylated metallic sites. This interaction is observed to depend on the basic/acidic characters of the adsorption centers. If it is accepted that the glucose monomer behaves like an acid, then the stronger the basicity of the hydroxylated metallic centers, the stronger the interaction. If glucose ring/solid surface interaction is put on a scale ranging from weak hydrogen bonding to strong chemical interaction, all these cases can be characterized as acid/base interactions. It follows that for a strongly acidic solid surfaces such as quartz, the adsorption of polysaccharides is low. However, when the surface is covered by a strongly basic metal hydroxide, the adsorption is dramatically increased.