The influence of residual short-range molecular order on the mechanism of starch retrogradation was examined by measuring functional properties of retrograding starch gels that were prepared by heating starch with different amounts of water at 100 °C. Analyses using X-ray diffraction (XRD), attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and laser confocal micro-Raman (LCM-Raman) spectroscopy showed that as short-range molecular range in the gelatinized starch decreased, so did long- and short-range molecular order, gel firmness, water mobility and susceptibility to in vitro enzymic digestion of the corresponding starch as it retrograded over time periods ranging from one to 21 days. The rate and extent of these changes were controlled by the amount of residual short-range molecular order in the starch after gelatinization, which in turn, was a function of the amount of water used for gelatinization. Starch gelatinized with 50–70% water formed had residual short-range molecular order and retrograded more quickly to form stronger gels, whereas starch gelatinized with 75 and 80% retained little structural order and retrograded more slowly, forming softer gels in which the starch crystallites were better-defined. Our study provides new insights into the mechanism of starch retrogradation and its effects on functional properties of retrograded starch gels, which is likely to be of interest for starch in foods and other applications.

通过在 100 °C 下加热淀粉与不同量的水制备的回生淀粉凝胶的功能特性，研究了残余短程分子顺序对淀粉回生机制的影响。使用 X 射线衍射 (XRD)、衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外 (ATR-FTIR) 光谱和激光共焦显微拉曼 (LCM-拉曼) 光谱分析表明，随着糊化淀粉中的短程分子范围减小，因此长程和短程分子顺序、凝胶硬度、水流动性和体外敏感性酶消化相应淀粉，因为它在 1 到 21 天的时间段内回生。这些变化的速率和程度受糊化后淀粉中残留短程分子顺序的量控制，而后者又是糊化用水量的函数。用 50-70% 水糊化形成的淀粉具有残留的短程分子顺序并更快地回生以形成更强的凝胶，而用 75% 和 80% 糊化的淀粉保留很少的结构顺序并且更慢地回生，形成更软的凝胶，其中淀粉微晶被更好地定义。我们的研究为淀粉回生的机制及其对回生淀粉凝胶功能特性的影响提供了新的见解，