Glycosylation of whey protein-gallic acid conjugates with pectin: Improved emulsifying property and interfacial behavior

This work aimed to determine the effect of glycosylation on the emulsifying property and interfacial behaviors of whey protein (WP) - gallic acid (GA) conjugates. By grafting pectin (PC) with WP-GA conjugates via a glycosylation reaction, WP-GA-PC ternary covalent conjugates were synthesized. The degree of grafting increased significantly with the increase of PC concentration and reached 22.90 % when the mass ratio of WP-GA to PC was 1:4. Moreover, the thermal stability and emulsifying property of the WP-GA-PC ternary conjugates were significantly improved compared with the WP-GA conjugates. The addition of PC improved the interfacial properties of the conjugates, which was favorable to the formation of stable emulsions. The emulsion activity index and emulsion stability index were increased by 10.73 m 2 /g and 86.70 min, respectively, at a mass ratio of 1:4 of WP-GA to PC. This work may provide a new idea for the development of novel stabilizers applied in the emulsion systems.