Morphological Characteristics of Amylose-Poly(tetrahydrofuran) Inclusion Complexes Depending on Temperature and Concentration

In this study, inclusion complexes of amylose using poly(tetrahydrofuran) (PTHF) as a guest molecule are studied. The effect of PTHF inclusion into the hydrophobic cavity of amylose is studied with different concentrations of PTHF. Attenuated total reflection fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry are used to confirm the formation of inclusion complexes and the structural properties of inclusion complexes are analyzed with synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and wide angle X-ray scattering. SAXS patterns show that the complex does not display any self-assembled lamellar structures due to the lower mobility of PTHF chains as compared to fatty acids. Different crystalline structures of inclusion complexes and arrangements of the PTHF molecules inside the amylose cavity are obtained at different temperatures. The results can play an effective role to understand the structural information of host–guest complexes with different physical and chemical properties of the guest compounds.