Cereal Chem 46:156 - 163.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Denaturation of Soybean Proteins by Organic Solvents.

D. Fukushima. Copyright 1969 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

A systematic study was made of the denaturing ability of about 30 kinds of organic solvents toward soybean proteins. In general, the denaturing ability of organic solvents depended on their hydrophobicities and their degree of dilution by water. Highly hydrophobic solvents possessed little denaturing power toward proteins, even at high temperature. The denaturing power of solvents increased with addition of water, whereas that of water also increased with addition of solvents. Consequently, the water-solvent mixture had high denaturing abilities that could not be attained by the individual components alone. Lower alcohols were much stronger denaturants than other solvents examined. The denaturing ability of alcohols at low concentration increased with the hydrophobicities of alcohols; the reverse was found at high concentrations. The denaturation mechanisms of soybean proteins with organic solvents and with water are discussed from the standpoint of the three-dimensional structure of soybean protein molecules.