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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Plant Polymer Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #212891
Title: IMPROVED ZEIN FORMULATIONS

Author
item Woods, Kristen
item Selling, Gordon

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/15/2007
Publication Date: 10/19/2007
Citation: Woods, K.K., Selling, G.W. 2007. IMPROVED ZEIN FORMULATIONS. Meeting Abstract. xx.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In order to mitigate the deficiencies of articles produced using zein (the dominant corn protein and a potential co-product of the bio-ethanol industry) we have treated zein with glyoxal. Chemical modification was carried out in 90% ethanol/water using various amounts of base. Glyoxal was added between 0.3 and 6% by weight. In order to provide suitable specimens for tensile testing, sufficient trietheylene glycol was added (10% by weight) to reduce the brittleness of the films. Samples cut from cast films were stored at 50 and 70% RH. Formulations having higher amounts of base and glyoxal gave the largest improvements, up to 52%, in tensile strength. The resulting glyoxal modified films swelled on exposure to various solvents known to dissolve zein. The glyoxal films were also found to be resistant to boiling water, where the glyoxal sample maintained most of its shape while the control samples formed sticky globs. Denaturing gel electrophoresis of the zein-glyoxal formulation showed the presence of higher molecular weight products when compared to control reactions.