Plasticization, antiplasticization, and molecular packing in amorphous carbohydrate-glycerol matrices.

The molecular packing of amorphous maltodextrin-glycerol matrices is systematically explored by combining positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) with thermodynamic measurements and dilatometry. Maltodextrin-glycerol matrices are equilibrated at a range of water activities between 0 and 0.54 at T = 25 °C to analyze the effect of both water and glycerol on the average molecular hole size and the specific volume of the matrices.