Extraction and Physicochemical Characterization of Starch from Pterocarpus santalinoides Seeds

Abstract

IntroductionStarch is an important part of many foods. It serves as the principal source of energy for many food preparations. 1 Starches are present in many tropical vegetables, cereals, legumes, fruits, rhizomes, seeds, stems, roots, tubers and corms of plants, as microscopic granules having characteristic shapes and sizes where they serve as a nutritious carbohydrate source. Starch is a common, affordable and easily available material that is utilized in many areas of life for the manufacture of industrial products such as paper, confectionaries, paint, beverages, textile, adhesive, pharmaceuticals and plastics. It is a safe, renewable, biodegradable, biocompatible and edible polymer of glucose that occurs naturally having profound usage in food and polymer science. [2][3][4] It is a complex microparticle that is composed of two key constituents, amylose (20-30%), which is linear and amylopectin (70-80%) which is highly branched. It is often associated with water, protein and lipids, phospholipids, soluble and insoluble fiber, and some minerals that exist in minute quantities but play a vital role in its the physicochemical properties. 2,4,5 Both amylose and amylopectin are polysaccharides formed by α-condensation of dglucose units. 5 Starch has a heterogeneous and semi-crystalline granular structure.