Broadening of the Water Proton Line in High-Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectra of Starch Gels

Abstract

REPORTS in the literature of measurements of proton magnetic resonance absorption for starch–water systems have been confined to dilute solutions1, to starch suspensions in water2 and to native starch granules containing up to 15 per cent water of crystallization3. In this communication we are reporting measurements made on suspensions containing 8 per cent–40 per cent starch and on the gels made by heating these suspensions at 80°. These results are the first to be recorded on starch-gels, and from the broadening of the water line on gelation we have postulated that the effect of hydration on the nuclear magnetic resonance band extends considerably beyond the water which is directly hydrogen bonded on to the starch hydroxyls.