Bio-polymers thermos-reversible gelation, a comparative study between carrageenan and gelatin.

Carrageenan and gelatin are biopolymers that may form hydrogels upon cooling. They are commonly used in the food industry as thickening or gelling agents, and more recently in cosmetics and pharmaceutics Here, we present an atypical carrageenan: Kappa/iota hybrid carrageenan (KI): a linear biopolymers with a random sequence of kappa and iota segment. KI does not display synaereses (expulsion of the solvent) during gelation contrary to classical carrageenan and it is plant based contrary to gelatin. It is therefore well suited industrial application and it will make greener and healthier materials. We aim to study the structural and rheological behaviour of those polymers during the sol-gel transition and to understand the particularity of KI suspensions compared to classical carrageenan and gelatin suspensisons.