The Fine Structure of Corn Starches of Various Amylose‐Percentage: Waxy, Normal and Amylomaize

The fine structure of high‐amylose corn starches has been studied after dispersion of the starch and fractionation into their components amylose and amylopectin. The resulting amylopectin fraction reported in the literature possesses anomalous properties with regard to the waxy and normal amylopectin. However, the experimental results obtained by different authors for determining the structure lead to controversal explanations. Therefore, using an enzymic method, which permits the direct examination of the constitutive chains of the starch, the fine structure of the amylopectin of an amylomaize starch (64% amylose) has been investigated and compared with those of waxy and normal starches. The pullulanase – debranched chains are fractionated by gel permeation and their linearity are checked under the action of β‐amylase. The inner chains of the amylopectin fraction are studied after debranching of the β‐limit dextrins. The results show the identity between amylopectins from waxy and normal starches. The amylopectin fraction of amylomaize has its own structure with longer inner chains than those of waxy‐maize amylopectin.