Amylopectin phosphate

Saccharification is never complete. A residue of amylopectin, phosphates, and hemi-cellulose remains, its composition depending on the nature of the starch. Hydrolysis may be traced by means of the iodine test or by sugar estimation. 

Amylopectin is the polymeric component of starch and consists mainly of glucose units joined at the 1,4-positions. Relative molar mass tends to be very high, e.g. between 7 and 70 million. A variety of modified starches are used commercially which are produced by derivatisation to give materials such as ethanoates (acetates), phosphates, and hydroxyalkyl ethers. Modified and unmodified starches are used in approximately equal tonnages, mainly in papermaking, paper coatings, paper adhesives, textile sizes, and food thickeners. 

Potato starch, and tuberous starch in general, has some unique properties as compared to cereal starches. The most important ones include long amylopectin chains forming hydrated and ordered B-type crystallites and the presence of phosphate esters. The clusters of potato amylopectin are comparatively small, comprising 5-10 short chains. The internal part ofthe clusters is organized into branched building blocks mainly found in the amorphous lamellae of the... 

Takeda, Y, Hizukuri, S. (1982). Location of phosphate groups in potato amylopectin. Carbohydr. Res., 102, 321-327. 

Arsenate similarly replaces phosphate in various phosphorolysis reactions, so that sucrose phosphorylase catalyzes the hydrolysis of sucrose in its presence (23), potato phosphorylase can hydrolyze amylose and amylopectin (24), nucleoside phosphorylase can hydrolyze inosine... 

Amylose, although water soluble, gives an unstable solution which irreversibly precipitates. It is mainly responsible for the deep blue coloration given by starch and iodine. Solutions of amylopectin are relatively stable. The iodine-binding capacity, on the other hand, is very low. A small amount of covalently bound phosphate normally appears with starch but its exact location within the molecule is not known. 

Substances commonly found in starch granules are amylopectin, amylose, molecules intermediate between amylose and amylopectin, lipid (including phospholipids and free fatty acids), phosphate monoester and proteins/enzymes. The contents and the structures of amylopectin and amylose play major roles in the functional properties of starch. However, lipids, phospholipids and phosphate monoester groups have significant effects on starch functional properties, even though they are minor constituents. 

Swinkels29 collected published characterization data for tapioca starch and compared it to that for other starches of commercial significance (Table 12.4). Tapioca starch is differentiated from other starches by its low level of residual materials (fat, protein, ash), lower amylose content than for other amylose-containing starches, and high molecular weights of amylose and amylopectin. The small amount of phosphorus in tapioca starch is partially removable30 and, therefore, not bound as the phosphate ester as in potato starch. It is also common to find protein and lipid values of zero, as reported by Hicks.31 The very low protein and lipid content is an important factor which differentiates tapioca starch from the cereal starches. 

Further improvements in the retention of pigment in the paper and enhanced sheet formation are obtained when amphoteric starches are used. Phosphate groups have to be added to cationic cornstarch to produce amphoteric properties. Cationic potato starch has a natural source of anionic charge due to its phosphate content. In recent years, waxy com starches, which consist entirely of amylopectin, have been modified for use as cationic or amphoteric agents for papermaking and surface sizing. 

Amaranth starch has very small and very uniform granules, the majority being less than 1 micrometer in diameter. Starch isolated from two Amaranthus species was compared and found to contain approximately 90% amylopectin and 10% amylose.164 Those authors prepared distarch phosphates and found that A. hypochondriacus starch responded more to crosslinking, as evidenced by reduced swelling power at 85°C and an increased gelatinization temperature range than did A. cruentus starch. 

Starch is considered to be a neutral molecule, but potato starch has a low degree of phosphation and is thereby endowed with weak polyelec-trolytic character. Starch phosphate esters reside principally in the amylopectin fraction. 

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