A photographic approach to the possible mechanism of retrogradation of sweet potato starch

Ordered structural changes of retrograded starch gel over long-term storage in wet starch noodles

Temperature-induced structural variations of retrograded starch gel during long-term storage were investigated in a real food system (wet starch noodles). Fresh starch noodles presented a B-type XRD pattern containing 8.82% crystallinity and 16.04% double helices. In the first 2 weeks, double helices of starch chain formed long-range ordered structure leading to increased crystallinity, and such structural transformation was positively correlated with increasing storage temperature (from 4 °C to 35 °C) and storage time. However, with the extension of storage time to 12 weeks, the disorganization of supra-molecular structure was likely to be observed by decreased crystallinity, double helix and water mobility. Besides, we propose that the area and intensity of Raman band at 2910 cm^-1 can be a good indicator for evaluating perfection of crystallinity in starch noodles. These results contributed to a better understanding of mechanisms underlying molecular order changes of retrograded starch gel product during long-term storage.

The retrogradation properties of glutinous rice and buckwheat starches as observed with FT-IR, 13C NMR and DSC

The experiment was conducted to study the retrogradation properties of glutinous rice and buckwheat starch with wavelengths of maximum absorbance, FT-IR, (13)C NMR, and DSC. The results show that the starches in retrograded glutinous rice starch and glutinous rice amylopectin could not form double helix. The IR results show that protein inhabits in glutinous rice and maize starches in a different way and appearance of C-H symmetric stretching vibration at 2852 cm(-1) in starch might be appearance of protein. Retrogradation untied the protein in glutinous amylopectin. Enthalpies of sweet potato and maize granules are higher than those of their retrograded starches. The (13)C NMR results show that retrogradation of those two starches leads to presence of β-anomers and retrogradation might decompose lipids in glutinous rice amylopectin into small molecules. Glutinous rice starch was more inclined to retrogradation than buckwheat starch. The DSC results show that the second peak temperatures for retrograded glutinous rice and buckwheat starches should be assigned to protein. The SEM results show that an obvious layer structure exists in retrograded glutinous rice amylopectin.

Effects of soy protein hydrolysates on maize starch retrogradation studied by IR spectra and ESI-MS analysis

Starch retrogradation is the main cause of quality deterioration of starch-containing foods during storage. The purpose of this study is to find out whether certain soy protein polypeptide in hydrolysates will retard maize starch retrogradation. The results show that all soy protein hydrolysates retard maize starch retrogradation to a certain extent. The IR spectra of hydrolysates and the blends of hydrolysates and maize starch show that the polypeptides might act with reducing end of maize starch during retrogradation. The results of electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry [ESI-MS] show that the polypeptide (m/z 863) is present in all three hydrolysates remarkedly retarding maize starch retrogradation and its relative abundence is also the highest. So the polypeptide containing seven amino acids probably is the key component to significantly inhibit maize starch retrogradation.

Retrograded starches as potential anodes in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries

Retrograded starch is a crystal formed by starch molecules with hydrogen bonds. Many literatures have reported its physicochemical character, but its crystal structure is so far unclear. As we isolate amylose and amylopectin from retrograded maize, sweet potato and potato starches in 4.0 M KOH solutions and make them retrograde alone in neutral solution (adjusted by HCl) to form crystal, a new phenomenon appears, crystals of KCl do not appear in retrograded potato amylose, potato amylopectin, and maize amylose, indicating that those crystals may absorb K⁺ and (or) Cl⁻, and those ions probably act with aldehyde of starch or hydroxy of fatty acid attached in starch, such characteristic may make retrograded starches replace graphite as anode with high-capacity in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.