Physicochemical Properties and Digestion Characteristics of Corn Starch Esterfied by Malic Acid

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of different degree of substitution on structural characteristics and crystalline properties of resistant starch esterfied by L‐malic acid. With the deepening of the esterification reaction, malate starches particles became larger, particle surface cracks and grooves increased which led to a decline in whiteness of malate starches. With the increase in the degree of substitution (DS), the initial phase transition temperatures (To) and endothermic enthalpies (ΔH) of malate starch gradually decreased. The XRD results indicated that with the increase of DS, the diffraction peak at 15.1° disappeared in the spectrum. When the DS of malate starches reached 0.116, the content of resistant starch (RS) accounted for the majority of the total starch.