Synthesis, characterization and aqueous self-assembly of octenylsuccinic corn dextrin ester with high molecular weight

•Octenyl succinic corn dextrin ester with high molecular weight was synthesised.•Octenyl succinic corn dextrin ester (OSCDE) could self-assembly in water.•Increase in DS or decrease in Mw decreased the particle size of OSCDE self-assemblies.•The absolute zeta-potential of OSCDE self-assemblies increased with DS and Mw.•Acidification and the addition of NaCl dis-stabilized OSCDE assemblies.

The effects of structural and environmental parameters on the self-assembly of octenylsuccinic corn dextrin ester (OSCDE) were investigated. OSCDEs with different degrees of substitution (DS) and molecular weights (Mw) were prepared and their aqueous assemblies were characterized with zeta-potential measurement, dynamic light scattering (DLS), fluorescence spectroscopy and TEM. Beyond its critical aggregation concentration (CAC), OSCDE produced spherical self-assemblies in water. For structural parameters, the higher the DS or the lower the Mw, the lower the CAC value was. Increase in DS or decrease in Mw definitively decreased the size of OSCDE self-assemblies which ranged from 194.5 to 455 nm. The zeta-potential of self-assemblies indicates a negative charge with an absolute value that increased with the increasing DS and Mw of OSCDE. For environmental parameters, pH and ionic strength exerted stronger impact on size and zeta-potential of the assemblies than OSCDE concentration.

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