Mukurumbira Agnes, Mariano Marcos, Dufresne Alain, Mellem John J, Amonsou Eric O
Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Durban University of Technology, South Africa.
Univ Grenoble Alpes, LGP2, F-38000, Grenoble, France; CNRS, LGP2, F-38000, Grenoble, France.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2017 Sep;102:241-247. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2017.04.030. Epub 2017 Apr 9.
Amadumbe (Colocasia esculenta), commonly known as taro is a tropical tuber that produces starch-rich underground corms. In this study, the physicochemical properties of starch nanocrystals (SNC) prepared by acid hydrolysis of amadumbe starches were investigated. Two varieties of amadumbe corms were used for starch extraction. Amadumbe starches produced substantially high yield (25%) of SNC's. These nanocrystals appeared as aggregated and individual particles and possessed square-like platelet morphology with size: 50-100nm. FTIR revealed high peak intensities corresponding to OH stretch, CH stretch and HO bending vibrations for SNCs compared to their native starch counterparts. Both the native starch and SNC exhibited the A-type crystalline pattern. However, amadumbe SNCs showed higher degree of crystallinity and slightly reduced melting temperatures than their native starches. Amadumbe SNCs presented similar thermal decomposition property as their native starches. Amadumbe starch nanocrystals may have potential application in biocomposite films due to their square-like platelet morphology.
魔芋（芋属植物），通常被称为芋头，是一种热带块茎植物，其地下球茎富含淀粉。在本研究中，对通过魔芋淀粉酸水解制备的淀粉纳米晶体（SNC）的物理化学性质进行了研究。使用了两个品种的魔芋球茎进行淀粉提取。魔芋淀粉产生的SNC产量相当高（25%）。这些纳米晶体呈现为聚集颗粒和单个颗粒，具有方形片状形态，尺寸为50 - 100纳米。傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）显示，与天然淀粉相比，SNC对应于OH伸缩、CH伸缩和HO弯曲振动的峰强度较高。天然淀粉和SNC均呈现A型结晶模式。然而，魔芋SNC的结晶度更高，熔点比其天然淀粉略低。魔芋SNC与天然淀粉具有相似的热分解特性。由于其方形片状形态，魔芋淀粉纳米晶体可能在生物复合膜中具有潜在应用。
