Effect of starch on the molecular mobility of amorphous sucrose

Molecular mobility in amorphous solid biomaterials is modulated by the composition and environment (primarily temperature). Phosphorescence of the triplet probe erythrosin B was used to generate a mobility map within amorphous sucrose films doped with starch ranging from 0.001 to 0.1 g starch/g sucrose. Data on the emission energy and lifetime of erythrosin B in sucrose and sucrose-starch films over the temperature range from 5 to 100 °C indicates that starch influences the molecular mobility as well as dynamic site heterogeneity of amorphous sucrose in a dose-dependent manner. At a starch/sucrose weight (wt) ratio below 0.005, both emission energy and lifetime decreased, and both the dipolar relaxation rate and nonradiative quenching rate k(TS0) increased, indicating that starch increased the matrix molecular mobility. At a ratio above 0.005, both emission energy and lifetime increased, and the dipolar relaxation rate and nonradiative quenching rate decreased, indicating that starch decreased the matrix mobility both in the glass and in the melt. The mobility showed a minimum value at a ratio of 0.01. The interactions existing in the sucrose-starch matrix are considered as the determining factor to influence the molecular mobility of sucrose-starch mixtures. Changes in the distribution of emission energies (emission bandwidth) and lifetimes indicated that starch increased the spectral heterogeneity at high contents while showing insignificant change or a slight decrease in the heterogeneity at low starch contents. These data illustrate the complex effects of a polymer with mainly linear structure and flexible conformation on the mobility of an amorphous, hydrogen bonded sugar matrix.