Abstract: Octenyl succinic acid debranched starch (OSA-DBS) was prepared from waxy corn starch using pullulanase and octenyl succinic anhydride as an esterifying agent. Flavor substances (n-caproaldehyde, n-heptanal, n-octaldehyde, γ-caprolactone, γ-heptanolactone, γ-caprolactone, 2,5-dimethyl-pyrazine, 2,3,5-trimethyl-pyrazine and 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-pyrazine) with different configurations were successfully included in OSA-DBS. The inclusion complexes showed improved thermal stability, in the decreasing order: linear < circular < stereoscopic. The inclusion complexes may be spherical, with particle sizes in the range of 90–180 nm, and the particle size distribution of the pyrazine inclusion complex was more uniform than the others. For the same configuration, the inclusion efficiency and drug-loading amount tended to increase with the number of carbon atoms, the highest values (78.50% and 21.41%) being observed for the OSA-DBS-2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-pyrazine complex.

Key words: octenyl succinate debranched starch; flavor substances; different configurations; inclusion complex