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2025 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo.

Protein and Co-Products

Protein-Based Materials and Co-Products for Food and Non-Food Applications I

Covalent modification of pea protein with p-coumaric acid: improving pea protein-based film properties

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

11:15 AM – 11:35 AM PST

Room: B117-119

Presenting Author(s)

Xuxiao Gong (he/him/his)

PhD candidate
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL, United States

Co-Author(s)

Leqi Cui

Assistant Professor
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida, United States

Abstract: This study investigated the potential of p-coumaric acid (p-CA) covalent modification to improve the performance of pea protein-based films. The relationship between protein structure and film properties after conjugation was explored by examining the structural changes between pea protein isolates (PPI) and PPI-p-CA conjugates, as well as the structural, optical, mechanical, and physicochemical properties of their resulting films. The conjugation with p-CA unfolds the tertiary structure of PPI and significantly reduces the surface charge. A tendency of aggregation with increasing p-CA addition was proposed. The conjugate-based films exhibited higher tensile strength and improved water barrier properties but showed no significant enhancement in elongation at break or thermal stability compared to PPI-based films. FTIR spectroscopic and zeta-potential analyses indicated that such improved film properties could be attributed to the enhancement of hydrogen bonds and weakening of electrostatic repulsion between conjugate-conjugate. Additionally, binding with p-CA imparted antioxidant activity to the conjugate-based films, confirmed by their DPPH scavenging capacity. This study demonstrates the potential of using pea protein-phenolic acid conjugate to make PPI-based films with improved mechanical properties, water barrier properties, and antioxidant activity.