17th Annual Student Research Conference
Science
Screening For Natural High-Amylose Corn Starch Using Differential Scanning Calorimetry
Nathan W. Polaske
Dr. Mark Campbell and Dawood Afzal, Faculty Mentors
Many methods for screening starch samples for amylose and amylopectin ratios are currently in practice today. While nearly all methods successfully estimate the ratios over a wide sample range, few methods are able to differentiate between a narrow sample range with the desired precision. Our objective has been to develop a method that can not only screen for high amylose samples, but can also estimate, with confidence, percent amylose in natural corn starch samples, ranging from fifty to ninety percent amylose, in a time efficient and easily repeatable manner. The r2 coefficient for the signal versus percent amylose relation was found to be 0.9935 with a detection limit of 21.2% amylose and standard deviation of 2.73% amylose. Other objectives include demonstrating that the method is suitable for naturally occurring starch samples, and showing a relationship between signal and mass of total starch. Further research involves the use of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to quantify amylose in native starches. Preliminary data from the NMR method will also be presented.
Keywords:
Topic(s):Chemistry
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 36-3
Location: VH 1432
Time: 2:45