Today, Diantang Environmental Protection takes everyone to understand the structure of starch granules.
      In fact, various starches are polysaccharide polymers formed by the condensation of multiple glucose molecules. Starch is insoluble in water. When it is heated to about 60°C with water (different types of starch, different gelatinization temperature), it will be gelatinized into a colloidal solution. Thickening is the use of this characteristic of starch.
       Starch granules have a crystalline structure with a certain X-ray diffraction pattern. The crystalline structure of starch granules varies with plant species from different sources. According to the X-ray diffraction patterns of various starches, they are divided into three different forms: A, B, and C.
       The structure of starch granules is very complicated. Although people have done a lot of research work for many years, the real structure has not been fully understood. In recent years, scientists have discovered through modern research methods such as fluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy that corn, wheat and sorghum starch granules have voids that extend from the surface to the umbilical point. This is another major advancement in the study of starch granule structure.
       Observing starch granules with an optical microscope, in most cases, the layered structure can be seen, with an umbilical point in it. Starch granules are composed of spherulites arranged radially according to certain rules at the umbilicus point. The layered structure is caused by the difference in refractive index inside the starch granules, or the difference in the packing method and packing density of the starch molecules in the starch granules.