AN ELECTRON-DIFFRACTION STUDY ON WHOLE GRANULES OF LINTNERIZED POTATO STARCH

Potato starch granules which had been lintnerized for 10 d in 2.2 N HCL at 35°C, embedded in Nanoplast and cross sectioned with a low angle diamond knife having an angle of 33.7° have been studied by electron diffraction. The sections were apparently defect free. When they were surveyed under frozen hydrated conditions by transmission electron microscopy in diffraction mode, they gave electron diffractograms typical of B starch. Central sections gave fiber diagrams, whereas noncentral or tangential sections gave strongly arced or even continuous ring diagrams. This technique, if it can be extended to other starch systems, will enable more detailed studies to be made of the crystalline ultrastructure of starch and the organization of the amylose fragments within the starch granule. Copyright © 1990 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim