Effects of molecular characteristics of tea polysaccharide in green tea on glass transitions of potato amylose, amylopectin and their mixtures

Tea polysaccharide (TPS) is attracting more attention gradually in many fields due to its particular biological properties. To further elucidate the functions of TPS to starch-based foods, experiments were carried out using mixed amylose/amylopectin/TPS system as a model. The effects of TPS in green tea on the glass transition temperatures (Tgs) of the mixtures with different amylose/amylopectin ratios at low water contents were investigated using high-speed differential scanning calorimetry (Hyper-DSC). The results showed that the Tgs of amylose, amylopectin and their mixtures decrease with increasing concentration of TPS. It is suggested that the addition of TPS has plasticizing effects on the structures of amylose and amylopectin on the molecular level. Based on the molecular characteristics of TPS, the results in this study indicated that TPS is a homogeneous and spherical polymer with branch in solution, which can increase free volume and molecular movement of amylose and amylopectin chains. TPS can also produce greater electrostatic repulsion and decrease association among macromolecules, thereby resulting in the decrease of the Tgs of amylose, amylopectin and their mixtures. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.