Localisation of glycol oxidants on polysaccharides

Periodate and lead tetraacetate are oxidants that selectively cleave glycols with vicinal alcohol groups, abundant in polysaccharides. Kinetics studies suggest that those oxidants combine rapidly to the vicinal alcohol groups followed by slow oxidation process. Due to the very selective and controlled oxidation, they are used as modifiers of polysaccharides to create aldehydes in many potential applications. We use the high Xray scattering power of iodine and lead compared to cellulose, to investigate their spatial distribution at the beginning of oxidation process at different conditions. We want to verify at what concentration they penetrate cellulose crystals in heterogeneous system, whether it forms regular structure, and whether the oxidants are more concentrated on the side chains when mixed with xyloglucans that are brush-like polysaccharides in solution. Furthermore Anomalous scattering capacity will be applied for lead acetate system.