Gelling polysaccharides

Recently, a great deal of progress has been made in the field of helix-forming polysaccharides. Imaging techniques show rigid, slender rods of aggregated helices under gelling conditions for gellan and kappa-carrageenan. Kappa-carrageenan helices in a good solvent form a nematic phase (for short chains) or a weak gel (for long chains). Theory on phase separation and gelation of rodlike particles has also progressed.