Abstract
The aqueous alcohol-soluble fraction of wheat gluten is gliadin. This component has been implicated as the causative principle in celiac disease, which is a physiological condition experienced by some infants and adults. The outcome of the ingestion of whole wheat products by susceptible individuals is malabsorption of nutrients resulting from loss of intestinal vili, the nutrient absorption regions of the digestive system. This leads to incessant diarrhea and weight loss in these individuals. Only recently has this health condition been properly recognized and accurately diagnosed in this country. The culprit gliadin is characterized by preponderant glutamine side-chain residues on the protein surface. Gliadin is commercially available as a wheat gluten extract, and in our search for new biobased and environmentally friendly products from renewable agricultural substrates, we have exploited the availability of the glutamine residues of gliadin as synthons to produce novel elastomeric nonfood products dubbed "milkglyde", "saliglyde", and soyglyde from milkweed, salicornia and soybean oils. The reaction is an amidolysis of the oxirane groups of derivatized milkweed, salicornia, and soybean oils under neat reaction conditions with the primary amide functionalties of glutamine to give the corresponding amidohyroxy gliadinyl triglycerides, respectively. The differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analyses, and rheological data from a study of these products indicate properties similar to those of synthetic rubber.