• starch ester
• supercritical CO2
• hydrophobic starch

Starch is one of the most abundant biopolymers in nature, and it is produced by many plants making it a valuable bio-based material worldwide distributed. Its properties and its availability make this biopolymer of extreme interest both in the industrial and research fields. To develop new starch-based technologies, researchers try to find novel paths to physically and/or chemically modify it. The subject of this thesis lies in this context, and it tries to contribute to developing a novel supercritical CO2-assisted synthetic route to obtain fatty acid starch esters (FASEs) using three different vinyl esters (vinyl butyrate, laurate, and stearate). The aim of this thesis is to characterize the effects of reaction conditions, the presence of scCO2 and different substituents on the final properties of the materials. To achieve this aim, several experiments and characterizations were carried out. Starch functionalization was characterized using 1H-NMR and EA. Dextrins (model compounds) were used to conduct a reactivity study to better understand the effects of water, amount of reactant and catalyst during the reaction. Thermal and morphological characterizations were obtained with TGA, SEM, and Polarized Light Optical Microscope). Crystallinity was determined with XRD. In conclusion, gelatinization temperatures (DSC), water uptake, complex viscosity (rheology), emulsion stabilization and biodegradability were also characterized.