Amino acid composition esterification

Alkali-extracted proteins from simflower oil cake (89% proteins, Nx6.25) and wheat gluten (76.5% proteins, Nx5.7) were reacted with n-octanol in the presence of an acid catalyst. Temperature, reaction time and catalyst concentration were varied according to an experimental design to maximize the esterification yield. The latter was determined by alkaline hydrolysis and subsequent analysis by gas chromatography. The hydrolysis of the peptide chain was traced by the determination of the amount of free amino groups in esterified proteins using 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene-sulfonic acid (TNBS) assays. The solubility curves of modified proteins in water as a function of pH were obtained by Kjeldahl analysis to determine the composition of the soluble and insoluble parts. 

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