2020 Young Scientist Research Award Lecture

2020 Young Scientist Research Award Lecture presented by Dr. Bingcan Chen. The presentation will be livestreamed at https://annualmeeting.aocs.org/watch-the-livestream


A nature-inspired synthesis of protein-phenolic conjugates for improved functionalities

Soluble bound phenolic compounds extracted from pulse deeds showed superior antioxidant activities than their free form counterparts against emulsion oxidation. Inspired by such naturally existed phenolic compounds, we synthesized novel protein-phenolic conjugates by grafting phenolics onto β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) through a mild, protein-friendly carbodiimide-mediated amide coupling reaction. The UV absorption, surface charge, and secondary structure of the formed conjugates were characterized to obtain an understanding of how the structure of phenolics could impact the structure and property of β-LG. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy was employed to detect antioxidant activity and mechanism. The physical and oxidative stability of emulsions prepared by the conjugates was also investigated.