title: Protein-based pickering emulsion and oil gel prepared by complexes of zein colloidal particles and stearate.
abstract: This paper describes the successful preparation of a protein-based Pickering emulsion, with superior stability against both coalesence and creaming, through a novel strategy of facilitating the formation of protein particles and small molecular weight surfactant complexes; these complexes are able to overcome multiple challenges including limited solubility, poor diffusive mobility, and low interfacial loading. Soluble complexes of water-insoluble corn protein, zein colloidal particles, and surfactant sodium stearate (SS) were fabricated by simple ultrasonication. Gel trapping technology combined with SEM was applied to characterize the adsorbed particles monolayer at the oil-water interface; results revealed an enhanced adsorption and targeted accumulation of zein particles at the interface with the increase of SS concentration. Partial unfolding of zein particles modified by SS above its critical complexation concentration triggered the aggregation and close packing of particles at the oil-water interface and endowed a steric barrier against the coalescence of oil droplets. Moreover, protein-based oil gels without oil leakage were obtained by one-step freeze-drying of the zein-stabilized Pickering emulsions, which could be developed to a viable strategy for structuring liquid oils into semisolid fats without the use of saturated or trans fats.
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Centre of Food Proteins, Department of Food Science and Technology, and ‡State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology , Guangzhou 510640, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Xiao-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Na-Na
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Li-Juan
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jin-Mei
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Shou-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D004655:Emulsions / Q000737:chemistry; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry; D009821:Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D015028:Zein / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004655:Emulsions; D005782:Gels; D009821:Oils; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D014867:Water; D015028:Zein