Starch and its classification
Chemically, starches are polysaccharides, composed of a number
of monosaccharides or sugar (glucose) molecules linked together
with -D-(1-4) and/or -D-(1-6) linkages. The starch consists
of 2 main structural components, the amylose, which is essentially
a linear polymer in which glucose residues are -D-(1-4)
linked typically constituting 15% to 20% of starch, and amylopectin,
which is a larger branched molecule with -D-(1-4) and
-D-(1-6) linkages and is a major component of starch (BNF
1990). Amylose is linear or slightly branched, has a degree of polymerization
up to DP 6000, and has a molecular mass of 105 to
106 g/mol. The chains can easily form single or double helices
(Takeda and Takeda 1989). On the basis of X-ray diffraction studies
on oriented amylase fibers, the presence of type A and type B
amyloe is indicated (Figure 1, Galliard 1987). The structural elements
of type B are double helices, which are packed in an antiparallel,
hexagonal mode. The central channel surrounded by 6
double helices is filled with water (36 H2O/unit cell). Type A is
very similar to type B, except that the central channel is occupied
by another double helix, making the packing closer. In this type,
only 8 molecules of water per unit cell are inserted between the
double helices. Amylopectin (107 to 109 g/mol) is highly
branched and has an average DP of 2 million, making it one of
the largest molecules in nature. Chain lengths of 20 to 25 glucose
units between branch points are typical. Its structure is often described
by a cluster model (Figure 2). The cluster model gained
greater credence when Hizukuri postulated that amylopectin