Authors:Alexander Puentes Parra, Claudia Elizabeth Mora Huertas
Abstract:Starch is a biodegradable and biocompatible polymer recognized as a versatile starting material for pharmaceutical and food products; therefore, the investigation of unconventional sources of this material is always attractive. In this research, bamboo starch was isolated and characterized regarding some of its physical, chemical, and physicochemical properties. Bamboo starch is present in bamboo stems and located in the long cells of the cortical parenchyma; its granules exhibit irregular shape, average size of 15 µm ± 1.0 µm, amylose content of 18.3% ± 1.2%, a crystallographic pattern corresponding to polymorph A with high gelatinization temperature (79.1°C) and low enthalpy (ΔH: 8.8 Jg-1), swelling power and solubility. The bamboo starch characterization suggests its performance as an excipient for pharmaceutics and cosmetics products or as a food ingredient like the more used starches. Besides, the starch extraction yield (22.9% ± 1.0%) and the characteristics of the bamboo crop´s growth and development offer an opportunity to add value to this natural resource by exploiting its starch.
Keywords:Bamboo, microscopy, starch, thermal properties, X-ray diffraction