Cereal Chem 50:654 - 660.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Free Radicals in Flour, Starch, and Gluten Produced by Ball-Milling, Electric Discharge, and Gamma-Irradiation.

R. J. Wasik and W. Bushuk. Copyright 1973 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Bread flour, dry gluten, and wheat starch, ball-milled under several different conditions, had an electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrum indicating the presence of free radicals. The ESR spectrum of ball-milled gluten was qualitatively similar to the spectrum of ball-milled flour, while that of starch was quite different. The radicals generated by ball-milling and gamma-irradiation were inert to water vapor, but were scavenged quickly by atmospheric oxygen. The ESR spectra of the free radicals generated by electric discharge and gamma-irradiation were quite different from those produced by ball-milling.