Effect of Cold Plasma Treatment, Cross-Linking, and Dual Modification on Corn Starch

Corn starch has limited applications due to its paste intolerance during heating, high shear processing, and low pH of foods. In this study, native corn (NC) starch is treated by both cold plasma and chemical cross-linking to produce modified starch. The cross-link ratio (CR), granule morphology, as well as other physicochemical properties of the modified starch are evaluated. The CR is 5.2% by plasma treatment, and it could be further increased up to 23.7% by the subsequent cross-linking using adipic acid and acetic acid anhydride mixture. Modified granules have more cracks, pits, holes, and damages than NC ones. FTIR spectra's shows some new peaks after dual modification (1563 cm(-1)) and plasma treatment (1730 cm(-1)). The plasma and cross-linking treatments cause a significant increase of swelling power for all the modified starches. Results of the present study indicate the possibilities of exploring cold plasma and cross-linking treatments for starch modifications.

Automated summary

In this study, native corn starch is modified using cold plasma and chemical cross-linking, which significantly increase the cross-link ratio and improve the physicochemical properties of the starch.