Patent ID: 8119615

Claim:
A method for folding protein comprising providing an aqueous solution of a protein in non-native conformation and an inulin or inulin derivative or a mixture of inulins and/or inulin derivatives and incubating the solution to permit folding of the protein, wherein the inulin or inulin derivative is a compound of formula (I): G(O—CO—NH—R 1 ) a —[F(O—CO—NH—R 2 ) b ] n (I) wherein: G is a terminal glucosyl unit in which one or more hydroxyl groups thereof may be substituted with a group or groups of formula(O—CO—NH—R 1 ); R 1 is selected from the group comprising alkyl groups, alkenyl groups, alkynyl groups, haloalkyl groups, cycloalkyl groups, aryl groups and aralkyl groups and, where there is more than one (O—CO—NH—R 1 ) group on the glucosyl unit, each R 1 group may be the same or different; a is an integer of from 0 to 4; F is a fructosyl unit in which one or more hydroxyl groups thereof may be substituted with a group or groups of formula (O—CO—NH—R 2 ); R 2 is selected from the group comprising alkyl groups, alkenyl groups, alkynyl groups, haloalkyl groups, cycloalkyl groups, aryl groups and aralkyl groups and, where there is more than one (O—CO—NH—R 2 ) group on the fructosyl unit, each R 2 group may be the same or different; b is an integer of from 0 to 3 for non-terminal fructosyl units and from 0 to 4 for the terminal fructosyl unit; n is an integer of from 2 to 499, each unit of formula F(O—CO—NH—R 2 ) b may be the same or different from any other unit of formula F(O—CO—NH—R 2 ) b ; and the average degree of substitution per glucosyl or fructosyl unit is from 0.01 to 3.0.