Swiss fragrance and flavour company reports being happy with its recently installed molecular weight analyser, used to characterise polysaccharides used for flavour encapsulation
Scientists at the Swiss fragrance and flavour company Firmenich have recently installed the BI-MwA molecular weight analyser from Brookhaven Instruments to characterise polysaccharides used for flavour encapsulation.
Ennio Cantergiani, physical chemist and project leader in the R and D department explained: "Polysaccharides, in particular maltodextrins, are used extensively in the food industry and their behaviour in solution varies according to where they originate.
For example, maltodextrins from sources such as wheat, maize, tapioca and potato do not behave in the same way, even though they all come from plants, and we want to find out why." "Understanding the microstructure of maltodextrin is the key and we needed to find a reliable light scattering instrument that would allow us to look at the molecular weight distribution of all maltodextrins, regardless of their source.
We knew about Brookhaven from discussions with Professor Wayne Reed at Tulane University and, after comparing a number of manufacturers' instruments, we decided Brookhaven's BI-MwA had everything we needed." "It is a compact system that can be easily stacked onto a series of detectors and there is potential for more to be added.
The electronics are well separated from the sample cell so any spillages can be isolated straight away without any significant damage to the instrument itself. Brookhaven's applications specialist, Jean Luc Brosseau, has a very impressive knowledge of both molecular weight distribution and the experimental procedures we use." Dr Cantergiani concluded: "We have had the instrument for six months now and we are very pleased with it."
