Microcellular foams made from gliadin. 2014

S Quester, and M Dahesh, and R Strey
Department of Chemistry, Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Cologne, 50939 Cologne, Germany.

We have generated closed-cell microcellular foams from gliadin, an abundantly available wheat storage protein. The extraction procedure of gliadin from wheat gluten, which involves only the natural solvents water and ethanol, respectively, is described with emphasis on the precipitation step of gliadin which results in a fine dispersion of mostly spherical, submicron gliadin particles composed of myriad of protein molecules. A dense packing of these particles was hydrated and subjected to an atmosphere of carbon dioxide or nitrogen in a high-pressure cell at 250 bar. Subsequent heating to temperatures close to but still below 100 °C followed by sudden expansion and simultaneous cooling resulted in closed-cell microcellular foam. The spherical gliadin templates along with the resulting foam have been analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) pictures. The size distribution of the primary particles shows diameters peaked around 0.54 μm, and the final foam cell size peaks around 1.2 μm, at a porosity of about 80 %. These are the smallest foam cell sizes ever reported for gliadin. Interestingly, the cell walls of these microcellular foams are remarkably thin with thicknesses in the lower nanometer range, thus nourishing the hope to be able to reach gliadin nanofoam.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

S Quester, and M Dahesh, and R Strey
March 2011, ACS applied materials & interfaces,
S Quester, and M Dahesh, and R Strey
June 2018, ACS applied materials & interfaces,
S Quester, and M Dahesh, and R Strey
January 2024, International journal of biological macromolecules,
S Quester, and M Dahesh, and R Strey
July 2019, Polymers,
Copied contents to your clipboard!