Oxidation and degradation of native wheat starch by acidic bromate in water at room temperature

Native wheat starch was oxidized by benign acidic bromate in water at room temperature. HPLC-ELSD study indicated that starch degraded in the course of oxidation but it still had a polymeric structure characterized by 1H, 13C, HSQC and HMBC NMR measurements. Products were generally water-soluble fragments but the use of a short reaction time and dilute reaction mixture yielded water-insoluble products. Titration of the products showed, that the increase of the starch content and reaction time increased the content of carbonyl and carboxyl groups in the range of 0.5–2.5% and 1.7–17.2%, respectively, in the product fragments. A mechanism for the oxidation reaction was proposed.