Starch is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units connected by glycosidic bonds, and it is produced by all vegetables as an energy store. It is found in plants (maize, wheat, potato, rice, barley, vegetables, manioc, and sweet potato etc.) and related lower organisms including algae and glaucophytes and is widely present in food and non-food applications. It is one amongst the foremost important organic molecules in human diet. Food is not the sole use of starch. Due to the renewable and biodegradable properties, starch is additionally a suitable raw material in numerous chemical applications such as plastics, detergents, adhesives, additives in cement, coatings etc.
Chemically, starch consists of two varieties of molecules 1) linear and helical amylose and 2) the branched amylopectin. Starch generally contains 20–25% amylose and 75–80% amylopectin, and it slightly varies depending on the sources. Amylose is considered as a semicrystalline biopolymer and is soluble in hot water, while amylopectin is very crystalline and is insoluble in hot water. The chemical structure of starch is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Chemical structure of starch with amylose and amylopectin units [1]
The properties of starch are widely studied and mostly well-known, however knowledge continues to progress within the understanding of the physicochemical bases of their applications. Binding, thickening, texturing, stabilizing and gelling are a number of the traditional functions of starch. Native starches are perfectly suited to a large variety of applications, food or non-food, where their properties remain irreplaceable. It appeared necessary, in some cases, to boost the performance of the starch and to respond to the requests of customers, giving other improved functionality or behavior: solubility in cold water, more stable viscosity at the variations of temperature, hot fluidity, better stability. This requires to have better knowledge of the properties of starch, such as chain length distribution, the degree of branching, granular distribution, the gelatinization temperature and also the thermal stability of starch. With the comprehensive understanding of the properties of starch, various modifications of starch can be applied to make it possible to obtain easier food preparation, better conservation of food and better stability of food even when heated under severe conditions.
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Reference
- P.M, Visakh. (2014). STARCH-BASED BIONANOCOMPOSITES: PROCESSING AND PROPERTIES Polysaccharide Building Blocks: A Sustainable Approach to the Development of Renewable Biomaterials, First Edition.