Electron beam irradiation-assisted prepare pea starch nanocrystals and characterization of their molecular structure, physicochemical and rheological properties

Jiayu Zheng; Wenqing Zhao; Xinyue Liu; Wei Liang; Yue Zheng; Xiangzhen Ge; Huishan Shen; Wenhao Li

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126384

Electron beam irradiation-assisted prepare pea starch nanocrystals and characterization of their molecular structure, physicochemical and rheological properties

Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Aug 16:251:126384. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126384. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jiayu Zheng¹, Wenqing Zhao¹, Xinyue Liu¹, Wei Liang¹, Yue Zheng¹, Xiangzhen Ge¹, Huishan Shen¹, Wenhao Li²

Affiliations

¹ College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, PR China.
² College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, PR China. Electronic address: liwenhao@nwsuaf.edu.cn.

PMID: 37595714
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126384

Abstract

Electron beam irradiation (EBI) is an environmentally friendly physical modification technology. In this study, pea starch nanocrystals (SNC) were prepared by EBI-assisted pretreatment, and investigated the effects of EBI on the multiscale structure and physicochemical properties of SNC. EBI-assisted pretreatment didn't change the particle morphology, crystalline type and FT-IR spectra of SNC. However, EBI-SNC's relative crystallinity and short-range orderliness index (R_1047/1022) significantly increased with increasing irradiation dose (5 KGy-20 KGy). In addition, EBI-assisted pretreatment caused the long chains of SNC's amylopectin to break into short chains. Moreover, EBI-assisted treatment significantly reduced the mean size, molecular weight, apparent amylose content, swelling power and SDS + RS content of SNC, while increasing the solubility, zeta potential and RDS content. Furthermore, the flow properties of the EBI-SNC samples were increased. The results show that EBI effectively changed the structural and functional properties of SNC, and the excellent functional properties are expected to broaden the application range of SNC.

Keywords: Electron beam irradiation; Molecular structure; Starch nanocrystals.