Modification of starch: A review on the application of “green” solvents and controlled functionalization

Starch is a polysaccharide widely present in nature and characterized by a wide range of applications. This often implies the necessity for various novel properties with respect to those of native starch, mainly achievable via chemical modification. During the last decades, products with new or enhanced properties were prepared from starch because of the adoption of “green” solvents (ionic liquids and supercritical CO2) and several new techniques (regioselective derivatization, atom transfer radical polymerization, etc.) that are characterized by controlled modification. However, reviews on these works seem very rare. In this article, the application of ionic liquids and supercritical CO2 in the modification and processing of starch is summarized. The development of regioselective derivatization and controlled grafting of starch are also reviewed in the second part of this article.