Abstract:To explore the effects of covalent modification of tannin acid (TA), maltodextrin (MD), and polydextrose (PD) on functional characteristics and structure of soybean protein isolate (SPI), TA, MD and PD were sequentially covalently grafted onto SPI by alkali treatment and wet Maillard reaction, and binary conjugate (SPI-TA) and ternary conjugates SPI-TA-MD and SPI-TA-PD were obtained successively. The degree of covalent grafting of SPI-TA with MD and PD was investigated by the determination of reactive groups, and the formation of covalent bond in binary or ternary conjugates was determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The structural changes of SPI in binary and ternary conjugates were studied by UV-visible spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The effects of TA, MD and PD on the functional properties of SPI were studied by evaluating solubility, emulsification, foaming performance, antioxidant activity, thermal stability and surface hydrophobicity. The results showed that the covalent binding of TA, MD and PD with SPI changed the structure of SPI and reduced the content of β-sheet in the secondary structure of SPI. The grafting equivalent of TA was (35.56±1.32)μmol/g, the grafting degree of MD and PD was 46.54% and 32.26%, respectively. Ternary conjugates showed significantly higher solubility, emulsification, antioxidant activity, foaming performance, surface hydrophobicity and thermal stability compared with SPI(P<0.05). The results could not only provide a theoretical basis for improving the functional properties and further understanding of the modification mechanism of SPI, but also provide a new food-grade raw material for the design of food functional ingredients delivery system, especially pine seed oil emulsion delivery system.