EFEITOS DA OXIDAÇÃO INDUZIDA COM PERMANGANATO DE POTÁSSIO NA MODIFICAÇÃO DO AMIDO DE PINHÃO

Abstract

Starch is the main constituent of many plants, widely used in paper, textile, pharmaceutical and food industries. The Araucaria angustifolia, a Brazilian native conifer, there is seeds known as "pinhões" with high starch content. The aim of this study was to modify the “pinhão” starches with different concentrations of potassium permanganate (KMnO4) solutions. The samples were characterized by Thermogravimetry (TG-DTA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Viscoamilografic Analysis (RVA), X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and colorimetry. In the TG-DTA curves with synthetic air were observed three mass loss in the samples. In this analysis were changes in the peak temperature and the intensity of thermal events of samples, where in the sample (3) of the “pinhão” starch treated with a concentration of 0.005 mol L-1 KMnO4 were more evident due to consecutive reactions. In the same analysis, but in nitrogen atmosphere, the samples showed two endothermic events of masses losses and only the sample (3) had a last exothermic event of mass loss indicative of the largest oxygen index. The DSC analyzes showed a reduction in gelatinization enthalpy values of all treated samples. These same samples showed less retrogradation tendency (setback) and lower viscosity compared with the native sample in the pasta property analysis (RVA). The X-ray diffraction of the native and treated samples showed similar profiles to the starches A - type pattern. The micrography obtained by SEM showed no significant changes regarding to the diameter and starches granules shape after modification. Through reflectance spectroscopy was showed color change for modified starch samples due to darkening caused by KMnO4.These results showed that the properties of the “pinhão” starches were changed by oxidative action of KMnO4 and future applications will be studied.