Abstract: Wheat milling is a process in which wheat grains are made into wheat flour by crushing, grinding, grading, mixing and other operations. According to the existing theory of wheat milling, mechanical force imposed on wheat grains only affects its physical properties such as grain size and damaged starch content during the milling process. However, accumulating studies show that the difference in grain size is not sufficient to explain the difference in flour quality during the milling process. Mechanochemistry is the study of chemical or physicochemical changes that occur in solids due to mechanical forces. These changes include material fragmentation, particle size reduction, crystal structure destruction, chemical bond change, and so forth, which can reduce the energy required for some chemical reactions, making the reactions easier to occur. Mechanochemistry has been applied to material surface modification, physical degradation, and other fields. This paper summarizes the mechanochemical theory and principle model as well as its application in synthesis, degradation and modification. In addition, it illustrates the basic theory of wheat milling, the problems encountered in current practice, and the current status of the application of mechanochemistry in research on starch and protein and other macromolecular components in cereals. Finally, the application prospects of mechanochemical theory in wheat milling are discussed.

Key words: mechanochemistry; wheat milling; starch crystal; protein structure; application prospect