Abstract:
This research focused on stabilization of colloidal particles using biopolymers. Two biopolymer-stabilized colloidal systems were studied; i.e. microfibrillated cellulose (MFC)-stabilized oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions and β-lactoglobulin (βLg)-coated gold nanoparticles (GNPs). This research consists of four parts. The first part investigated the effect of number of passes (1-20 passes) through a homogenizer used for MFC preparation on properties of MFC itself and also the properties and stability of o/w emulsions stabilized by MFC. MFC was prepared from mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) rind using hot sodium hydroxide extraction, hydrogen peroxide bleaching, and then shearing using a homogenizer. The crystallinity index, degree of polymerization, viscoelasticity, and viscosity of the MFC decreased as the number of homogenization passes increased, indicating that fiber degradation occurred. The 30% o/w emulsions stabilized by MFC (0.7% w/w MFC, pH = 6.8-7.2) obtained at the higher number of homogenization passes exhibited smaller oil droplets, stronger three-dimensional network structures, and were more stable to creaming than those stabilized by MFC obtained at the lower number of homogenization passes. The creaming stability was reduced at low pH or at high salt concentration. Thermal treatment had little influence on the creaming stability of these emulsions. The second part focused on the effect of MFC concentration (0.05-0.70% w/w) on the properties and stability of 10% o/w emulsions (pH = 6.8-7.2). In this study, MFC obtained at 20 homogenization passes was chosen due to its highest emulsion stabilizing properties. The results show that the oil droplet size, color intensity, viscoelasticity, and stability of the MFC-stabilized emulsions increased with MFC concentration. SEM and confocal micrographs revealed that MFC stabilized emulsion by Pickering mechanism. In addition, the rheological data provided evidence for network formation in the emulsions with increasing MFC concentration. All emulsions were stable to coalescence but the stability of creaming decreased with decreasing MFC concentration. These results provided understanding of the influence of processing conditions for MFC preparation as well as its concentration on properties and stability of MFC-stabilized emulsions, leading to a new application in food industry. The third part was aimed to prepare the βLg-coated GNPs (pH 3) and to study the influence of βLg concentration on protein conformational changes and GNPs aggregation. The surface charge of GNPs changed from negative to positive with increasing βLg concentration, indicating that the globular protein molecules adsorbed to the surfaces of the particles. Extensive particle aggregation occurred when βLg did not saturate the GNP surfaces, which was attributed to electrostatic bridging flocculation. Modifications in LSPR and SERS spectra after addition of βLg to the GNP suspensions supported the adsorption of βLg to the surfaces. Moreover, SERS highlighted the importance of specific functional groups in the binding interaction, and suggested conformational changes of the globular protein after adsorption. The forth part focused on the interactions between βLg-coated GNP interfaces and bile salts (BS) at pH 7 by primarily focusing on the physicochemical and interfacial compositional changes of protein at the particle surfaces. The BS was shown to adsorb to the βLg-coated GNP surfaces and alter the interfacial composition, charge, and structure. SERS spectra of βLg-coated GNP after BS addition contained bands from both βLg and BS, indicating that the βLg was not fully displaced by the BS. The impact of the bile salts could be described by an orogenic mechanism: mixed interfaces were formed that consisted of islands of aggregated proteins surrounded by a sea of bile salts. These results provided fundamental information about the interaction between globular protein, colloidal particles, and surface active bile salts that can be used as database for interface science in food emulsion application.