Morphological modulation of starch chains from nanorod to nanospindle via temperature-controlling rearrangement

Minxuan Chen; Wen Ma; Siyu Yao; Beijia Wan; Zirui He; Xiangli Kong; Dandan Li; Donghong Liu; Enbo Xu

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138670

Morphological modulation of starch chains from nanorod to nanospindle via temperature-controlling rearrangement

Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 Dec 14:288:138670. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138670. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Minxuan Chen¹, Wen Ma², Siyu Yao², Beijia Wan², Zirui He³, Xiangli Kong³, Dandan Li⁴, Donghong Liu¹, Enbo Xu⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Intelligent Food Technology and Equipment, Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Agro-Food Processing, Integrated Research Base of Southern Fruit and Vegetable Preservation Technology, Fuli Institute of Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China; Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China.
² College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Intelligent Food Technology and Equipment, Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Agro-Food Processing, Integrated Research Base of Southern Fruit and Vegetable Preservation Technology, Fuli Institute of Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
³ Institute of Nuclear Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
⁴ College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
⁵ College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Intelligent Food Technology and Equipment, Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Agro-Food Processing, Integrated Research Base of Southern Fruit and Vegetable Preservation Technology, Fuli Institute of Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China; Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China. Electronic address: enboxu@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 39675614
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.138670

Abstract

Polymorphic nanoparticles, including starch nanoparticles (SNPs), have increasingly attracted attention, particularly rod-shaped variants, which are used for constructing anisotropic systems. Compared to symmetrically spherical particles, they show superior properties such as gastrointestinal retention for functional nutrients/drugs delivery and mechanical enhancement of filled materials, but their controlled fabrication remains a challenge. In this study, we yielded polymorphic SNPs with nearly axisymmetric geometries through a combined alkaline hydrolysis and nanoprecipitation method, followed by temperature-controlling rearrangement. The change from starch nanorod (SNR) to starch nanoellipsoid (SNE) and starch nanospindle (SNSP) was obtained when heat-induced rearrangement of starch chains occurred from temperature 90 °C to 20 °C. Interestingly, the sodium ions introduced by NaOH solution could be separated from the samples to varying extents. Both raw materials of normal and high-amylose starches have the above rules of nano-morphological alternation and salting out phenomenon, whereas their microstructures are not totally the same. Compared to SNR/SNE/SNSP fabricated from normal starch, those from high-amylose starch have a higher proportion of long chains (DP > 24) while less short chains (DP 6-12), with higher degrees of order and crystallinity.

Keywords: Chain rearrangement; Multiple morphologies; Starch nanoparticle; Structure modulation.