The optimal and mildest possible conditions for the phosphorylation of
whole casein and beta-lactoglobulin have been established. They allow
to displace the phosphorylation equilibria towards either dominating
polymers or phosphorylated monomeric forms of studied milk proteins as
well as a mixture of both. The studied reaction conditions and factor
s included the reaction medium, type of base, time, POCl3 molar ratio,
diverse phosphorylating agents, protein concentration, reaction seque
nce and chemical protein premodifications. Use of semiorganic conditio
ns in the presence of an organic base such as the tertiary amine (TEA)
resulted in cross-linked phosphorylated protein polymers especially a
t high molar ratios of POCl3 (400-800). Mostly monomeric phosphorylate
d proteins were obtained in aqueous conditions using POCl3 at low mola
r ratio (100) neutralized by tertiary amines.