Establishing magnetite complex with gluten and phenolic compounds for lead adsorption: properties and functions

Abstract

Heavy metal lead has a significant threat to human health. Reducing the residual lead ions in food is beneficial for protecting the quality and safety of food. In present study, a magnetite complex with lead adsorption capability was successfully prepared by using gluten, phenolic compounds and ferroferric oxide. According to multispectral analysis and physicochemical tests, phenolic compounds including gallic acid (GA), chlorogenic acid (CA), epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), procyanidine (PR), tannic acid (TA) showed the good performances to improve the properties (including Surface hydrophobicity, sulfydryl content and amidogen content), secondary and tertiary structures of gluten through their strong interactions, so as to improve the thermal stability and structures of magnetite complex. The improving degree of phenolic compounds was closely related to their structural characteristics. Moreover, hydrogen and hydrophobic bonds were found to be the main molecular forces responded for these interactions by using molecular docking and molecular electrostatic potential analysis. Furthermore, during in vitro and in vivo tests, magnetite complex exhibited the remarkable capability to adsorb the lead ions in aqueous solution effectively, and also could significantly reduce the lead residue in Zebra fish. All results suggest that this magnetite complex show the potential to reduce the lead residue, which is beneficial to protect the quality and safety of food.