AVS 50th International Symposium
    Surface Science Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS-TuP

Paper SS-TuP4
Monosaccharide Adsorption on Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Surfaces

Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 5:30 pm, Room Hall A-C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: J.W. Clemens, Smith College
Authors: J.W. Clemens, Smith College
M.A. Cobleigh, Smith College
K.T. Queeney, Smith College
Correspondent: Click to Email
The adsorption of encapsulated bacteria to both natural and synthetic surfaces is governed by extracellular polysaccharides. In order to gain insight into the interactions of these large starch molecules with such surfaces, and specifically to separate out effects of their primary and secondary structure, we have undertaken a comprehensive study of the adsorption properties of the constituent monosaccharides of xanthan gum, a model bacterial polysaccharide. A combination of surface infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy is used to investigate the adsorption properties of glucose, mannose and glucuronic acid on silicon and functionalized silicon surfaces. Access to the full mid-IR frequency range allows us to analyze both the OH-stretching region, in order to probe the role of hydrogen-bonding in adsorption, and the fingerprint region of the molecules, which is more sensitive to configurational changes in the molecules upon adsorption. Combining this information with AFM images allows us to correlate spectroscopic signatures associated with sugar-surface and sugar-sugar interactions.