Exploring the influences of ultrasound-assisted glycosylated modification on chickpea protein isolate: insights into structural, functional, and interfacial properties

Chickpea protein isolate (CPI) offers advantages such as low allergenicity, high digestibility, and a balanced essential amino acid profile, making it a promising dietary protein. However, its relatively poor emulsifying properties in its natural form limit its application in the food industry. Therefore, this study prepared protein-polysaccharide conjugates by heating CPI and citrus pectin (CP) aqueous dispersion under different ultrasonic pre-treatment (UP) at 200 W, 400 W, and 600 W. Results confirmed that the formation of CPI-CP covalent conjugates through analyses of grafting degree, intermediates, browning intensity, and SDS-PAGE. Ultrasonic treatment at 400 W enhanced the conjugates’ surface hydrophobicity (H 0 ), free sulfhydryl (−SH) content, particle size, and emulsifying properties. Notably, moderate ultrasonic pre-treatment (400 W) could enhance interfacial adsorption capacity and interfacial interactions of prepared CPI-CP conjugate products at the oil–water interface. Collectively, these findings elucidated the positive role of ultrasound pretreatment in the preparation of CPI-CP conjugates with high interfacial performances, highlighting the potential application value of UP in the preparation of CPI-CP glycosylation products.