Swelling and Reactivity of Maize Starch Granules

It is concluded that granule swelling is required for any chemical derivatization of common yellow dent maize starch with fatty acyl chlorides in organic solvents, even for reaction at granule surfaces. It was also concluded that progressively less of hot pyridine-swollen granules is available for reaction with fatty acyl chlorides as the carbon chain length increases from C₆ to C₁₄, with those two lengths being the approximate outside limits for partial exclusion.