Abstract
Encapsulation in alginate beads has always been limited by the leakage due to the too wide distribution of pore sizes. Mixing alginate with other polymers have sometimes reduced the problem. Hydrocolloids from seven tropical vegetal species (barks of Triumfetta cordifolia and Bridelia thermifolia, seeds of Irvingia gabonensis and Beilschmiedia obscura, and leaves of Ceratotheca sesamoides, Adansonia digitata and Corchorus olitorius) were screened for synergistic interactions with alginate in dilute aqueous solution. Mixtures with alginate were made at different volume proportions and deviations from the initial viscosity set at 1 were evaluated. In distilled water, the gums from T. cordifolia, B. obscura, C. sesamoides and C. olitorius presented synergies with alginate. In 2 mM calcium chloride, the seven gums showed positive synergy. Interactions are favored by gum flexibility and the presence of charges, although high charges reduced the interactions. Alginate fraction of maximum viscosity enhancement depends on the ability to conformational order of the gum. The measure by laser diffraction of alginate-gum particles sizes at different fractions showed that the cooperative interactions did not always involve the largest complexes formed in gums associations. The occurrence of these interactions predicts the formation of homogeneous mixed gels at higher polymer and calcium concentrations.