| Abstract: | Chemical treatments with a number of low‐toxicity or nontoxic reagents were applied to corn slurry to investigate the disruption or weakening of common bonding forces between corn starch and proteins, such as hydrogen bonds, disulfide bonds, electrostatic interactions, or combinations thereof, to improve the corn starch isolation process. Starch and proteins could be easily separated by disrupting disulfide bonds with 1% l ‐cysteine (w/v). The most effective reagents for hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions were 3M urea and pH 7.5 separately. The sequence treatment of hydrogen bonds, disulfide bonds, and electrostatic interactions (namely, sequence treatment of 1M urea, 1% l ‐cysteine, and pH 7.5) led to the highest amount of starch in corn slurry and facilitated the corn starch isolation. |
