Abstract:

A review. Liq. crystals are widely utilized as model systems to mimic biol. processes where the phase behavior of lipids plays a mediating role. In various foods and pharmaceutical and biotech. applications, the liq. cryst. phases formed by surfactants in an aq. medium represent useful host systems for drugs, amino acids, peptides, proteins and vitamins. Various biol. active food additives are sol. in neither aq. nor oil phase and require environmental protection against hydrolysis or oxidn. Lyotropic liq. crystals meet these requirements mainly due to their high solubilization capacities for hydrophilic, lipophilic and amphiphilic guest mols. Moreover, recent studies demonstrated controlled and/or sustained release of solubilized mols. from different liq. cryst. matrixes. This paper surveys the solubilization of hydrophilic, lipophilic and amphiphilic guest mols. for food applications and illustrates the corresponding structural transformations. Recent developments in liq. crystal characterization methods are discussed. [on SciFinder(R)]