Abstract: Starch is the principal energy reserve in plants and the macroscopic component of many foods, and functions as an important raw material for the food industry. It is generally accepted that starch comprises highly branched amylopectins (AP) and linear amyloses (AM). The molecular structures of AM and AP in starch granules are of crucial importance for understanding the relationship among starch biosynthesis, structure and functional properties. In this paper, the content, structure and its contribution to the structure of starch granules of AM are elucidated along with the cluster structure model, the building block backbone model and structural hierarchy of amylopectin branched chain structure. We hope that this review will provide useful information for future research on the molecular structures of amylose and amylopectin in starch.

Key words: amylose, amylopectin, molecular structure, cluster model, building block backbone model