Electron beam irradiation pretreatment enhances the formation of granular starch-phenolics complexes

Starch-phenolics complex generated by the interaction between starch and phenolic acids had improved characteristics than the native starch, but the efficient preparation of such complex is still challenging. In this study, we proposed a new method for the preparation of starch-phenolics complexes under the pretreatment of electron beam irradiation (EBI). Four structurally similar monomeric phenolic acids including gallic acid (GA), 3,4-Dihydroxy-5-methoxybenzoic acid (3MGA), syringic acid (SA) and vanillic acid (VA), which naturally existed in Tartary buckwheat (TB) seeds, were complexed with native and EBI-pretreated TB starch. The results showed that the complexation between starch and 3MGA was the strongest, more than 30 mg of 3MGA was complexed with 1 g of starch. The complexation did not affect the particle morphology and A-type structure of starch, but changed the crystal structure order and promoted the strength of hydrogen bond, which may lead to the formation of granular complex. EBI pretreatment can significantly promote the complexation by enhancing hydrogen bonds as indicated by a broader band at 3500 ∼ 3100 cm^-1 in the FT-IR spectra. In addition, EBI pretreatment helped to build a tighter bond and higher crystallinity, increase the particle size and iodine binding capacity, and decrease turbidity to inhibit retrogradation of starch. The ¹H NMR of complexes indicated that EBI pretreatment could provide more accessibility for starch to interact with phenolics by creating a spacious microenvironment for ¹H (α1 → 4). Above all, EBI pretreatment enhanced the formations of starch-phenolics complexes.