A. Blennow et al., Starch molecular structure and phosphorylation investigated by a combined chromatographic and chemometric approach, CARBOHY POL, 41(2), 2000, pp. 163-174
Structural features of starch were studied with special emphasis on the rel
ationship between starch phosphorylation and starch chain length distributi
on comparing a chemometric approach with classic statistics. Starches prepa
red from 44 plant species were analysed with respect to the degree of phosp
horylation and chain length distribution of the neutral unit chains, prepar
ed by enzymic isoamylase debranching, using high performance anion exchange
chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC/PAD). Chemometric
algorithms such as Principle Component Analysis (PCA), Non-Negative Altern
ating Least Squares Regression (NNALSR) and Partial Least Squares regressio
n (PLS) were used to analyse the systematic variation in the chromatograms
and compared to Gauss decomposition. Detailed relations between chain lengt
h data and structural elements of the current cluster/bocklet model of nati
ve starch granules were revealed. By using PCA, both crystal polymorphs and
botanical origin of the starch were accurately predicted. Using PLS, a str
ong correlation (0.93) was obtained between the chain length distribution a
nd the degree of phosphorylation in the potato starch group. The use of che
mometrics as an efficient tool to classify and predict starch functionality
is documented. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.