title: Nanoemulsification of pseudo-ceramide by molecular association with mannosylerythritol lipid.
abstract: Ceramide molecules in water-based solutions readily attract each other to form molecular crystals, which seriously hampers to diversify their formulations. This paper describes a facile method that allows fabrication of stable ceramide emulsions through an effective molecular association with a lipid having an asymmetric molecular geometry. The lipid considered in this study is mannosylerythritol lipid (MEL). MEL is specialized in having a unique molecular structure containing sugar alcohol erythritol as a hydrophilic part and two alkyl chains with different number of carbons as hydrophobic moieties. Our particular interest has been focused on experimentally demonstrating how MEL interacts with pseudo-ceramide molecules by observing phase properties, emulsion morphology, and suspension stability. The pseudo-ceramide emulsions prepared with MEL show remarkably improved dispersion stability without either formation of molecular crystals or changes in particle sizes even after storing them for a long time. This suggests that MEL readily associates with the pseudo-ceramide due to the hydrophobic interaction, while it makes a break in the continuity of the molecular assembly of the pseudo-ceramide molecules themselves due to the geometric hindrance coming from MEL's asymmetric molecular structure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Hanyang University, 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 426-791, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Min Kyung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Hanyang University, 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 426-791, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Seon
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: Damy Chemical Co., Material Science Research Institute, 481-10, Gasan-dong, Geumcheon-gu, Seoul 153-803, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kwang Nyeon
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Amore-Pacific Co. R&D Center, 314-1, Bora-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi-do 446-729, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Han
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Chemistry, Hanyang University, 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 426-791, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kjwoong@hanyang.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jin Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D002518:Ceramides / Q000737:chemistry*; D004655:Emulsions / Q000737:chemistry; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D002518:Ceramides; D004655:Emulsions; D006017:Glycolipids; C439671:mannosylerythritol lipid
keywords: Crystals; Emulsions; Lipid; Molecular geometry; Pseudo-ceramide