Viscosity of Sodium Salt of Polyuronide Hemicellulose from Jute

Abstract

IT lias been observed by Fuoss and Strauss¹ that the viscosity behaviour of a polymer such as polyvinylbutyl pyridonium bromide, containing ionizable groups, in water is not the same as that of a neutral polymer. The reduced viscosity (η_p/C) of the former (a polyelectrolyte), unlike that of a neutral polymer, increases on dilution. A similar behaviour has been noted by Pals and Hermans² in the case of sodium pectinate. Basu³ has studied the viscosity of sodium thymonucleate, which also behaves as a polyelectrolyte. The present communication describes the viscosity measurements of the sodium salt of methyluronic acid – xylan complex⁴ (a jute hemicellulose fraction). As this uronic acid is believed to occur in a chain molecule, it was thought that the sodium salt of the complex in aqueous solution might also behave as a polyelectrolyte. This does not appear to have been studied hitherto.