Abstract: | A viscous exopolysaccharide fromSphingomonas paucimobilis-GS1, emulsified xylene, benzene, 2-methylnaphthalene, hexadecane, hexane, kerosene and paraffin oil as well as castor, coconut and olive oils when used at 1 mg/ml. It stabilized the emulsions more efficiently than commercial gums such as arabic, tragacanth, karaya and xanthan. Emulsions were stable for 6 months, from 4 to 40°C and pH 4 to 10 and in the presence of NaCl up to 50 g/l. The polysaccharide had no discernible toxicity towards mice when tested using World Health Organization guidelines.The authors are with the Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology Centre, M. S. University of Baroda, Baroda 390 002, India |