title: Interaction and formation mechanism of binary complex between zein and propylene glycol alginate.
abstract: The anti-solvent co-precipitation method was used to fabricate the zein-propylene glycol alginate (PGA) binary complex with different mass ratios of zein to PGA (20:1, 10:1, 5:1, 2:1 and 1:1) at pH 4.0. Results showed that attractive electrostatic interaction between zein and PGA occurred and negatively charged binary complex with large size and high turbidity was formed due to the charge neutralization. Hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic effects were involved in the interactions between zein and PGA, leading to the changed secondary structure and improved thermal stability of zein. Aggregates in the irregular shape with large size were obviously observed in the AFM images. PGA alone exhibited a fine filamentous network structure, while zein-PGA binary complex showed a rough branch-like pattern and the surface of "branch" was closely adsorbed by lots of spherical zein particles. Q in zein-PGA binary complex dispersions presented the improved photochemical and thermal stability. The potential mechanism of a two-step process was proposed to explain the formation of zein-PGA binary complexes.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, Beijing Laboratory for Food Quality and Safety, Beijing Key Laboratory of Functional Food from Plant Resources, College of Food Science & Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, 100083, China.
authors.forename: Cuixia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, Beijing Laboratory for Food Quality and Safety, Beijing Key Laboratory of Functional Food from Plant Resources, College of Food Science & Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, 100083, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, Beijing Laboratory for Food Quality and Safety, Beijing Key Laboratory of Functional Food from Plant Resources, College of Food Science & Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, 100083, China. Electronic address: gyxcau@126.com.
authors.forename: Yanxiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
keywords: Binary complex; Interaction; Mechanism; Propylene glycol alginate; Zein