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Terahertz spectroscopy on starches from various botanical sources: Identification of starch types with high
Shusaku Nakajima1, Chiko Otani1, Ryutaro Morita2
1RIKEN Centre for Advanced Photonics, 519-1399 Aramaki-Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0845, Japan.
Abstract:
Terahertz spectroscopy has the potential to serve as a new analytical method for starch in plant samples, with peak intensity being a significant index for quantification. However, the chemical and physical properties of natural starch vary depending on their botanical sources, and authors hypothesize that these factors influence the terahertz peak intensity. This study measured the terahertz spectra of natural starches from different botanical sources within the range of 4.0-15.0 THz and investigated the interactions between starch properties and peak intensities. Eight natural starches exhibited main absorption peaks above 9.0 THz, with the highest peaks observed in corn starch, which has high crystallinity and a particle size approximately 20 μm, corresponding to a minimum value of the incident terahertz wavelength. Additionally, A- and C-type starches exhibited higher peak intensities than B-type starches. This could be due to high crystallinity and the similarity between the particle size and the terahertz wavelength. Furthermore, the baseline was synchronized with peak intensities for all natural starches, demonstrating high correlations. These data suggest that the baseline could serve as an alternative index for starch measurement using terahertz spectroscopy, in place of peak intensities calculated from the second derivative signal.
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