Microwave esterification of sunflower proteins in solvent-free conditions

The esterification of storage proteins from sunflower seeds renders these molecules more hydrophobic and increases internal plasticization, facilitating their use in the fabrication of materials by thermo-mechanical processes. The reaction was carried out in solvent-free conditions to simplify the process and to reduce costs. Optimization of esterification by the classical method, heating in a thermostat-regulated oil bath, resulted in 84% esterification for a reaction time of 4 h (amount of catalyst=3.9 meq 5 N HCl/g protein, T=90 °C). Microwave heating was then used to reduce the reaction time and the hydrolysis of protein chains. A similar level of esterification (89%) was obtained in 18 min (amount of catalyst=3.4 meq 5 N HCl/g protein, microwave power (P)=560 W). High yields were obtained with this method, demonstrating that this process limited hydrolysis.