Conjugation of soy protein isolate with carboxymethyl cellulose through dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma

The present study aimed to evaluate the physicochemical properties of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma grafted carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and soy protein isolate (SPI). Therefore, the mixture of SPI and CMC was treated at 16, 18 and 20 kV for 5, 10 and 15 min with DBD plasma. The results of FTIR, XRD, FESEM and SDS-PAGE confirmed the SPI-CMC conjugate formation after plasma treatment, and a glycation degree of about 21 % was obtained after 15 min treatment at 18 kV. Significantly higher levels of emulsifying activity and stability, as well as solubility, were obtained for the conjugates, as compared with the SPI-CMC mixture. Also, the smaller droplet sizes were observed in emulsions obtained from conjugate produced at 18 kV for 5 min, which had the most stability after 14 days of storage at 4 °C. Eventually, it was detected that DBD plasma could graft SPI and CMC in a short time.