Enhanced functionality through conjugation: structural and functional characterization of chickpea albumin-hydrolyzed guar gum via Maillard reaction.

Authors

Afsaneh Taheri, Wee Jian Cedric Sow, Juan Du

Published in

Food chemistry. Volume 525. Issue Pt 3. Pages 150610. Jul 29, 2026. Epub Jul 29, 2026.

Abstract

This study investigated the structural and functional modifications of chickpea albumin (CPA) through conjugation with hydrolyzed guar gum (GG) via the Maillard reaction. CPA-GG conjugates were prepared at different protein-to-polysaccharide ratios (1:1, 1:3, and 3:1) and characterized in terms of solubility, ζ-potential, surface hydrophobicity, secondary structure, and molecular properties. Conjugation-induced structural rearrangements include a reduction in α-helix content (from 35% to 7-9%) and an increase in β-sheet content (from 21% to 45-48%). Conjugation increased the molecular weight of CPA from 137 kDa to 425-708 kDa and rendered the conjugates more conformationally rigid. All conjugates exhibited enhanced emulsifying activity compared with native CPA (0.02 m²/g), with the polysaccharide-rich conjugate (C13) showing the highest value (31.62 m²/g) at pH 6.5 and improved emulsion stability at pH 3.5. This study demonstrates that Maillard conjugation effectively improved the techno-functional properties of CPA.

PMID:
42543044
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 03 Aug 2026.

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