Chemical acylation of pea protein isolate hydrolysate with fatty acid N-hydroxysuccinimide esters: Effect on structure and functional properties

Applications of pea protein in the food industry have been greatly restricted by its poor functional properties. In order to solve this problem, a novel technique combining enzymatic hydrolysis and fatty acid acylation has been applied in this work to constructing a pea protein-fatty acid covalent complex aims to improve its functional properties. The processed pea protein with increased water solubility tends to decrease the chance of self-aggregation. Additionally, emulsifying and antioxidant properties have also been found after this process. On top of that, the modified pea protein has been characterized by Fourier transform infrared and circular dichroism spectroscopy. These results demonstrate these properties were mainly caused by the acylation of amino group from hydrolyzed pea protein and the carboxyl group from the fatty acid. The enzymatic hydrolysis/fatty acid acylation is a novel process to manufacturing high quality functional lipoproteins from inexpensive pea protein for the food industry.