Structure, birefringence and digestibility of spherulites produced from debranched waxy maize starch

The objectives of this study were to debranch waxy maize starch by pullulanase, produce spherulites with different crystalline structures and birefringent properties by controlling crystallization conditions and determine how their structures were correlated with their digestibilities. The spherulites formed in water or 50% ethanol at 4 °C without mixing had a B-type crystalline structure. The birefringence sign was not uniform for the spherulites formed in water at 4 °C; some spherulites displayed negative birefringence. However, positive birefringence was observed for the spherulites formed in 50% ethanol at 4 °C, indicating starch chains were radially arranged. The spherulites crystallized in water at 50 °C followed by further crystallization at 4 °C had a predominate A-type crystalline pattern with positive birefringence in some particles, the highest resistant starch content (73.0%) and the highest degree of crystallinity (76%).