Ionic liquid as a solvent and catalyst for acylation of maltodextrin

Catalyst-free esterification of maltodextrin was carried out in ionic liquid. Stearate esters of maltodextrin were obtained in various degree of substitution (DS) when vinyl stearate or stearic acid was heated with maltodextrin in ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide (bmim[dca]). Reaction temperature of 75 °C gave the highest value of DS (0.64) and reaction efficiency (64%). Structure and DS of the resulting esters were confirmed by NMR, titration, GC, and elemental analysis. It was found that for some of the maltodextrin stearates the mixed solvent of chloroform/DMSO (70/30) was better than DMSO.