Effect of hydration state of macromolecules on sol-gel transition of food macromolecules

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25660108
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Food science
• Research Institution: Ishikawa Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: MIYAWAKI Osato 石川県立大学, 生物資源環境学部, 教授 (80012053)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 食品高分子 / ゾル・ゲル転移 / 水分活性 / 高分子水和 / 水素結合 / ゼラチン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the sol-gel transition of food macromolecules, the intermolecular hydrogen-bonding among macromolecules are broken down to bring about the hydration of macromolecules so that the water activity, as an index of the bulk state of water, is expected to affect the transition process strongly. From this standpoint of view, the sol-gel transition of food macromolecules, such as gelatin, was analyzed to show an important role of water activity in such phenomena. This result will provide an entirely new approach in the study of physical properties of food macromolecules.

Free Research Field

農学