In this work, molecular weight reduction of the polysaccharide biopolymer, sodium hyaluronate (NaHA), was obtained without added chemicals or catalysts using high temperature water (180 to 260) °C, fast-heating-rates (417 to 750) °C∙s⁻¹ and short reaction times (< 18 s) in a flow reactor. Results show that hydrothermal treatment of NaHA with fast-heating-rates convert the substrate into low molecular weight oligomers with minimal byproduct formation. A kinetic model assuming random depolymerization provided data correlation and allowed estimation of molecular weight reductions. Mechanism of NaHA decomposition in high temperature water with fast-heating rates seems to be related to initial disentanglement of NaHA random coils through convective (turbulent) mixing and shear that minimizes heterogenous decomposition. Evidence for the mechanism includes lack of significant furan byproducts (fast-heating), clear product solutions and model applicability. Fast-heating with high temperature water allows selective conversion of high molecular weight NaHA into low molecular weight HA fragments without chemical modification, catalysts or additives.

在这项工作中，使用高温水（180至260）°C，快速加热速率（417至750）°C，无需添加化学品或催化剂的情况下，多糖生物聚合物透明质酸钠（NaHA）的分子量降低了s ^-1在流动反应器中反应时间短（<18 s）。结果表明，以快速加热速率对NaHA进行水热处理可将底物转化为低分子量低聚物，而副产物的形成最少。假设随机解聚的动力学模型可提供数据相关性，并可以估算分子量的降低。在快速加热的高温水中，NaHA分解的机制似乎与通过对流（湍流）混合和剪切使非均质分解最小化的NaHA无规卷材的初始解缠有关。该机理的证据包括缺乏明显的呋喃副产物（快速加热），明确的产品解决方案和模型适用性。