Abstract:

A review with 45 refs. Gum arabic is compared to colloidal microcryst.-cellulose (MCC) and galactomannans in view of their ability to reduce surface tension, interfacial tension and to stabilize oil-in-water emulsions via the steric and mech. stabilization mechanisms. While gum arabic adsorbs strongly and effectively onto the oil droplets via its proteinaceous moieties, guar gum and locust bean gum (LBG) adsorb weakly and for the most part only "ppt." on the oil surface, and form birefringent layers of the polymer oriented with its hydrophobic mannose backbone facing the oil. The stabilization with MCC is claimed to be achieved via adsorption of solid particles on the oil droplets (mech. stabilization). [on SciFinder(R)]