Patent ID: 8426382

Claim:
A polysaccharide comprising carboxyl functional groups, at least one of which is substituted by a residue of a hydrophobic alcohol, and having a general formula I: in which n represents a molar fraction of the carboxyl functions of the polysaccharide substituted by F-R-G-HA and is between 0.01 and 0.7, said hydrophobic alcohol being grafted or bonded to the polysaccharide via a coupling arm R, said coupling arm being bonded to the polysaccharide via a function F, said function F resulting from the coupling between an amine function of the coupling arm R and a carboxyl function of the polysaccharide, and said coupling arm being bonded to the hydrophobic alcohol via a function G resulting from the coupling between a carboxyl function of the coupling arm and a function of the hydrophobic alcohol, the unsubstituted carboxyl functions of the polysaccharide being in the cationic carboxylate form, the cation being that of an alkali metal selected from the group consisting of Na + and K + , F being an amide function, G being an ester function, R is an amino acid, HA being a residue of a hydrophobic alcohol, the hydrophobic alcohol being selected from the group consisting of fatty alcohols, alcohols composed of a saturated or unsaturated and branched or unbranched alkyl chain containing from 8 to 16 carbons, cholesterol derivatives, menthol derivatives, tocopherols and alcohols carrying an aryl group, the polysaccharide being selected from the group consisting of dextran, pullulan, alginate, hyaluronan, xylan, galacturonan, water-soluble cellulose, curdlan, inulin, glucan and mannan, said polysaccharide comprising carboxyl functional groups being amphiphilic at neutral pH.