Physicochemical, structural, and thermal properties of "batata-de-teiú" starch

Jatropha elliptica (Pohl) Muell Arg is a sub-shrub herbaceous plant native to the Brazilian Cerrado, and popularly known as "batata-de-teiú". There is lack of scientific knowledge about the structural characterization, physicochemical and technological aspects of the carbohydrate content present in Jatropha elliptica roots. Thus, this work aim contributes with new data about the evaluation of chemical-structural, thermal and technological properties of starch extracted from "batata-de-teiú". The starch presented low levels of ash, protein and total fiber and amylose content of 32.82%. The initial gelatinization temperature of "batata-de-teiú" starch was 70.1 °C, peak temperature was 73.84 °C and final 85.52 °C, and starch had low trend to retrogradation. The results of x-ray and ¹³C cpmass show a A-type structure with high crystallinity degree. Finally, this results suggested that the "batata-de-teiú" starch is a macromolecular structure with high branching degree, favoring intermolecular Coulomb, Van der Waals forces and hydrophobic interactions, which directly corroborated with the low solubility observed (maximum of 6.44 g·100 g^-1 at 80 °C). The extraction of "batata-de-teiú" starch can be viable, and it has technological characteristics suitable for use in the food industry or pharmaceuticals, since "batata-de-teiú" starch has good thermal stability and low trend to retrogradation.