Electroneutral Quaternization/Sulfosuccination for Alleviating the Adverse Effect of Paste Aging on the Properties of Corn Starch Film

For the purpose of alleviating the adverse effect of paste aging on the properties of corn starch film, a series of electroneutrally quaternized/sulfosuccinylated starches（EQSS） with different degrees of substitution（DS） were synthesized via the quaternization/sulfosuccination of acid-thinned corn starch（ATS） by varying the amounts of N-（3-chloro-2-hydroxypropl） trimethylammonium chloride, maleic anhydride, and sodium hydrogen sulfite. The influence of paste aging on the properties of starch film cast from heat-induced starch paste was investigated and the properties were explored in terms of tensile strength, elongation, work at break, degree of crystallinity, and flex-fatigue resistance. The experimental results showed that the paste ageing generated adverse influence on the elongation, work at break, and flex-fatigue resistance of starch film. Further experiments showed that electroneutral quaternization/sulfosuccination of starch were able to alleviate the negative effect of paste ageing on the elongation, work at break, and flex-fatigue resistance, thereby obviously enhancing the elongation, work at break and flex-fatigue resistance, and thus reducing the drawback of brittleness. The enhancement depended on the amounts of the substituents introduced. With the increase in DS value, the elongation and work at break as well as flex-fatigue resistance continuously rose, whereas the tensile strength gradually reduced.