Self-assembly of a food hydrocolloid: The case of okra mucilage

The self-assembly of a macromolecular population of interest in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutics, namely okra polysaccharide mucilage, has been studied by means of micro-differential scanning calorimetry (μ-DSC), static light scattering, and intrinsic viscosity measurements. The experiments, held in water–dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) mixtures, and based on successive dilutions of DMSO solutions with water and vice versa, suggest the existence of history-dependent pseudo-equilibrium states, in structures where the other components of the hydrocolloid mucilage, namely proteins, should be actively partaking. A hexamer supermolecular structure, comprising of smaller supermacromolecular entities held together by hydrogen bonding, is proposed as a typical structure of okra mucilage in aqueous systems.