The present study developed a novel complex coacervate based on succinyl mung bean protein (SMBP) and gum arabic (GA) to encapsulate curcumin. The optimum pH and succinylprotein/polysaccharide ratio for complex coacervation were 3.0 and 1:1, respectively, measured by turbidity evaluation. Fluorescence spectroscopy depicted that the curcumin was loaded in the hydrophobic core of SMBP/GA. The evaluated FTIR and XRD showed that the encapsulation of curcumin in the complex coacervate hydrophobic core was successful, followed by minor changes in SMBP conformation caused by the succinylation process. The zeta potential showed that the succinylation of MBP led to a decrease in the zeta potential of SMBP and confirmed that the SMBP/GA was produced successfully at pH 3.0. The EE and LA of c-SMBP/GA were 99.79 ± 0.03 % and 24.94 ± 0.05 μg·mg-1, respectively, which were significant. SMBP showed enhanced antioxidant activity compared with MBP, and c-MBP/GA showed significant antioxidant activity measured by ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging assays. SMBP is a biopolymer that can be used to encapsulate bioactive compounds like curcumin and shows enhanced antioxidant activity. The c-SMBP/GA is a promising tool for encapsulating curcumin in food matrices with enhanced dispersity characteristics and release behavior.
Keywords: Coacervation; Curcumin; Encapsulation; Protein modification; Succinylation.
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