Construction of ferulic acid modified porous starch esters for improving the antioxidant capacity

For exploration of a type of synthetic antioxidant dietary fiber (ADF), porous starch (PS), modified by esterification with ferulic acid (FA) moieties, was synthesized successfully, with different degree of substitution (DS). The ester linkage of FA modified PS was confirmed by (13)C solid-state NMR and FT-IR. XRD analysis showed that starch ferulates had a different crystal structure from the V-type pattern of native starch, suggesting that the starch gelled during the esterification reaction, then re-crystallized into a different structure. Morphological studies revealed that FA modified PS esters had a different morphology of irregular beehive-like and dense fibrous-like structures compared with that of native starch. In vitro antioxidant assays showed that starch ferulates had excellent antioxidant capacity. In particular, FA modified PS esters had a much higher antioxidant capacity than free FA in the β-carotene–linoleic acid assay. This study has advanced the technology of using porous starches for modifying the biological activity of an antioxidant polyphenol. We expect this work would inspire further studies on the interactions of phenolics with other food ingredients in the food industry.