FOOD SCIENCE ›› 2021, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (4): 15-22.doi: 10.7506/spkx1002-6630-20190930-369

• Food Chemistry • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Preparation and Structural Characterization of Tea Tree Oil Emulsion Gels Stabilized by Glycyrrhizic Acid Nanofibrils

XU Mengyue, LI Qing, WU Hua, WAN Zhili, YANG Xiaoquan   

  1. (1. Research Center of Food Proteins and Colloids, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Natural Products and Product Safety, School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China; 2. Beijing Key Lab of Plant Resource Research and Development, School of Science, Beijing Technology & Business University, Beijing 100048, China)
  • Online:2021-02-25 Published:2021-02-25

Abstract: Self-assembled nanofibrils from the triterpenoid glycyrrhizic acid (GA) were used as structural building blocks to prepare tea tree oil emulsion gels. The effects of the concentration of GA nanofibrils and tea tree oil (TTO), and oil phase composition on the appearance, microstructure and rheological properties of the emulsion gels were investigated. The results showed that the synergistic combination of gelation and emulsifying behaviors offered GA nanofibrils the potential as natural structuring agents for TTO emulsion gel systems with honeycomb-like microstructure and small droplet size (2.5 μm). The emulsion gels exhibited many interesting rheological behaviors such as high gel strength. The gel system with higher concentrations of GA nanofibrils (4%) and essential oil (40%) showed enhanced viscoelastic properties and stability. In addition, the change in oil phase composition (addition of sunflower oil or medium chain fatty acid triglycerides) could significantly affect the particle size, appearance and structural characteristics of the emulsion gels.

Key words: glycyrrhizic acid; nanofibrils; tea tree oil; emulsion gels; essential oil structuring

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