Effect of glycosylation on the mechanical properties of edible soy protein packaging film

In this paper, we explore the glycosylation conditions (glucomannan content, reaction time, temperature and humidity) to probe the relationship between glycosylation and mechanical properties of soy protein isolate (SPI) film. The mechanical properties were characterized by studying the tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (EB). Furthermore, degree of glycosylation, free glucomannan content, surface hydrophobicity, sulfhydryl groups content, lysine and arginine content of glycosylation soy protein with different reaction time were investigated to certify the significant effect of glycosylation on mechanical properties of soy protein film. What is more, the comparison of TS and EB, contact angle values and water vapor permeability of glycosylation SPI (GSPI), SPI and mixture of SPI and glucomannan films showed the excellence of GSPI. At the end, the analysis of scanning electron microscope was applied to reveal the effect of glycosylation on the structure of films. These results suggested that glycosylation with glucomannan is an ideal method to enhance the mechanical properties of soy protein isolate film.