Synthesis of high fatty acid starch esters with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride as a reaction medium

In this work, high fatty acid esters of corn starch were synthesized by reacting the starch with fatty acid methyl ester using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) ionic liquid (IL) as reaction media. The effect of reaction variables such as the catalyst amount, molar ratio of fatty acid methyl ester/anhydroglucose unit (AGU) in starch, pyridine/AGU molar ratio, reaction temperature, as well as reaction time on the degree of substitution (DS) of starch esters was investigated. The experimental results showed that the DS value of the obtained starch esters could be varied depending on the process conditions. In the optimum reaction condition, the achieved maximum DS of starch laurate and starch stearate was 0.37 and 0.28, respectively, at a reaction temperature of 110 degrees C for starch laurate and 120 degrees C for starch stearate for a reaction duration of 2 h. Furthermore, the starch esters were characterized by FTIR, SEM, and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) techniques, respectively. Results from FT-IR spectroscopy suggested that the hydroxyl groups in the starch molecules were converted into ester groups. SEM and XRD studies showed that the morphology and crystallinity of starch esters were disrupted largely in the IL medium under the reaction conditions.