Tanima Bhattacharya, N. R. Bandyopadhyay, D. Roy and D. K. Bhattacharyya
New techniques developed to prepare biopolymer nanocrystals from easily available starch and protein source. Though nanocrystals preparation has been reported by acid hydrolysis in case of starch nanocrystals, some adverse effects may be noted when used as fillers. Starch crystals are prepared by addition of plasticizer further followed by homogenization and ethanol wash followed by freeze drying. Particle size of pea starch observed by Transmission Electron microscopy is 50-100nm and the morphology is determined by Scanning electron microscopy. Certain repetitive solubilization and crystallization method has been tried out in case of protein nanocrystals. Results from Scanning electron microscopy and Transmission Electron microscopy can be noted that the particle size of first stage protein isolate is of 870nm wheras after optimization of last stage (final solubilization and crystallization) results in 350nm. Thus there is a tendency of size reduction in case of protein crystals
