Polysaccharide nanofiber made from euglenoid alga

We have fabricated a polysaccharide nanofiber made from paramylon (beta-1,3-glucan), a storage polysaccharide stored as a micrometer-sized particle in the cell of euglenoid alga. Preparation of this nanofiber primarily hinges on the bottom-up approach. First, paramylon, which is originally present in the form of a bundle of nanofibers in a particle, was fibrillated to a randomly coiled polymer by dissolving the particle in a 1.0-mol/L NaOH aqueous solution. Second, the randomly coiled polymer was allowed to self-assemble into a triplex as the NaOH concentration was reduced to 0.25-0.20 mol/L. Third, a 20-nm-width nanofiber made from the triplex emerged in the solution when the NaOH concentration was reduced to approximately 0.20 mol/L. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.