For the replacement of conventional plastics, the bioplastics based on renewable biopolymers such as natural polysaccharides are receiving increasing attention. In order to impart thermoplastic properties to polysaccharides such as starch, they should be chemically modified. Therefore, in this work the double modification of starch with organic anhydrides was investigated and the influence of the degree of substitution (DS) on the properties of modified starches was studied. In this study, we report the double modification of corn starch via succinylation and acetylation. The initial modification was carried out with dodecylsuccinic anhydride to synthesize the modified starches with three different degrees of substitution of dodecylsuccinate groups which were further modified with acetic anhydride, and acetylation reaction conditions were optimized to get highest degree of substitution of acetyl groups. The results show that starches with high degree of substitution have improved thermoplastic behavior and glass transition temperature as compared to those with low degree of substitution which show poor thermal stability. This dual modification method significantly increases the properties and functionality of starches making them promising materials for sustainable plastic alternatives. This work was supported by the Project of Scientific Cooperation Program between Latvia, Lithuania, and Taiwan and received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement No S-LLT-25-4.
MODIFICATION OF CORN STARCH VIA SUCCINYLATION AND ACETYLATION
Muhammad Nasif1, Ayodeji Amobonye1, Joana Bendoraitiene1, Laura Peciulyte1, Remo Merijs Meri2, Shu-Kai Yeh3, Ramune Rutkaite1
1 Department of Polymer Chemistry and Technology, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania
2 Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Riga Technical University, Latvia
3 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan