CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

tIn recent years acetylated, propionylated and butyrylated starches have received special attention due totheir capacity to deliver specific short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) to the colon in a sustained and predictablemanner, and thus contribute to maintaining the normal physiologic function of the large bowel andpreventing specific diseases.In the current contribution a non-conventional organocatalytic solventless route for the eco-friendlypropionylation of corn starch is proposed. The catalyst used in the acylation is a naturally occurring -hydroxy acid (l-tartaric acid). Propionylated starches with degree of substitution (DS) in the 0.05?1.59interval were obtained and characterized in terms of chemical structure, morphology, crystallinity, ther-mal stability and hydrophilicity. Results showed that by the proposed methodology propionylated starchwith the DS required for clinical use (i.e. 0.2?0.3) could be obtained within 2?3 h of reaction. Character-ization results evidenced the progressive loss of crystallinity of starch granules as higher substitutionlevels were conferred.