Dextrins alkali-lability

Fig. 14.— Variation of Solubility, Alkali-lability, Reducing Sugars, and Viscosity, as Function of Time, for Yellow-Farina Dextrin. ...

The thermal treatment causes changes in solubility, viscosity, and alkali-lability, and the extent of modification increases in the order White dextrins < Yellow dextrins < British Gums. 

However, for the Yellow dextrins, although the viscosity again decreases with increase in conversion time, the alkali-lability passes through a maximum (see Fig. 2). This must indicate that some complex transglyc-osidation and repolymerization reactions occur at later stages in the process. 

Fig. 1.—Formation of a White Dextrin from Corn Starch Changes in (1) Viscosity, in Centistokes, (2) Alkali Lability, and (3) Solubility, %, as a Function of the Conversion Time. (Redrawn from Ref. 5.)...

The lability to alkali " seems to be another reasonable index useful in the classification of dextrins. 

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