The formation of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) and its transformation into octacalcium phosphate (OCP) in the presence of poly-L-glutamic acid (PGA, Mw 3000 Da and 50,000 Da), poly-L-lysine (Mw 50,000 Da) and polystyrene sulfonate (MW 70,000 Da) has been investigated. All polyelectrolytes at low concns. induced and at high concns. retarded nucleation of the cryst. ppt. In addn., the polyelectrolytes inhibited aggregation of ACP particles and growth of the cryst. phase. The intensity of the effects depended on the charge, mol. mass, and concn. of the specific polymer. [on SciFinder(R)]

A review. In this chapter some problems connected with the utilization of subzero temp. differential scanning calorimetry (SZT-DSC) are discussed. Among them are the detn. of hydration nos. of surfactants and org. compds., the detn. of the hydration shell thickness, the effect of alc. on the distribution of water between free and bound states in nonionic surfactant-based systems, and some considerations regarding the problem of phase sepn. of such systems in subzero temps. The significance of SZT-DSC for some novel applications is also discussed. [on SciFinder(R)]

Disclosed are compns. for dispersion of a fat-sol. vitamin to give a clear, stable soln. of the vitamin, the compns. comprising the vitamin, an alc., a surfactant, and water. Also disclosed are dried powder compns. comprising a fat-sol. vitamin which upon mixing with an aq. soln. form an isotropic transparent soln., said compns. comprising the vitamin, an oil, a surfactant, and a sugar alc. [on SciFinder(R)]

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The present invention relates to nano-sized self-assembled structured concs. and their use as effective suitable carriers for transferring active components into the human body. The nano-sized self-assembled concs. are composed of an aq. phase, an oil phase, a surfactant a co-solvent and co-surfactant. The formed nano-sized self-assembled structured concs. may be in the form of an aq. continuous phase, an oil continuous phase or a bicontinuous phase, and may thus be dild. to any desired extent in either oil or water maintaining their structure and the active material comprised within the nano-sized self-assembled structured concs. A micellar conc. contained lycopene, R-(+)-limonene, ethanol, and Tween 80. [on SciFinder(R)]
The patent describes novel self assembled nanostructures fully dilutable in water and with high solubilization capacity of bioactives .

The present invention is directed to a 3-dimensional optical memory comprising as an active medium a compd. capable of interconverting from one isomeric form to another by interaction of light. The compds. comprise stilbene derivs. bound to, e.g., PMMA. The compd. is bound to a polymer for achieving a uniform memory unit. [on SciFinder(R)]
Patent application expired

The hydration behavior of the system polyoxyethylene (10) oleyl alc. [C18:1(EO)10 or Brij 97]/water/dodecane/butanol (model system B) was investigated along a diln. line for which the resp. wt. ratio of dodecane:butanol:Brij 97 is 3:3:4. Two exptl. methods were applied: time domain dielec. spectroscopy (TDDS) and sub-zero temp. differential scanning calorimetry (SZT-DSC). Two types of bound water (with melting peaks at - 25 and - 11°C) were detected by SZT-DSC (using the endothermic mode), whereas TDDS revealed only one such type. Nevertheless, roughly the same total amt. of bound water was estd. from these two techniques. The av. no. of bound water mols. per ethylene oxide (EO) group, NW/EO, is 2.3 (TDDS data) or 2.5 (SZT-DSC data) in good agreement with the observation that 1-2 water layers are formed in the hydration of ethoxylated surfactants. We have also shown that butanol is involved in the formation of the bound water that melts at - 25°C. We suggest that butanol mols. occupy binding sites within the second hydration shell, thereby reducing the expected total bound water content. [on SciFinder(R)]

Water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double emulsions with improved stability and less polydispersity in droplet size distribution were prepd. using polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) as emulsifier in the inner aq. phase and replacing the common nonionic hydrophilic monomeric emulsifiers by a "protein-polysaccharide hybrid" in the outer interface. Amphiphilic macromol. hybrids with specific interfacial recognition capabilities to be termed "biomacro-mol.-recognition hybrids" have been prepd. in aq. soln. by interacting whey protein isolate (WPI) with hydrocolloids (xanthan gum, galactomannans) at selected pH and wt. ratios. The binary aq. mixts. do not coacervate or ppt. but form stable mol. adducts. At pH lower than the isoelec. point of the protein (pH 4.6), the yield of encapsulation of glucose (a model marker) in the inner phase of the double emulsion is close to 95%. The emulsion droplets are stabilized by both steric and electrostatic contributions (zeta potential is close to +30 mV). Rheol. measurements indicate that, at low pH, such systems behave as viscous ones with G'' (loss modulus) greater than G' (storage modulus). When the pH is close or greater than the isoelec. point of the protein, the system exhibits a more pronounced elastic behavior (G' \textless G'') that can explain the redn. in emulsification capabilities of such mixts. In this case the yield of encapsulation is less than 10% and the double emulsion droplets are larger than 10 $μ$m. At pH ≤ 2, the adducts can efficiently stabilize double emulsions and serve as an efficient and thick barrier against the release of vitamin B1 entrapped in the core of the W/O/W double emulsions. The release of the vitamin was less than 18% after three weeks of storage at room temp. (against 100% of release at neutral pH). [on SciFinder(R)]

A review. Fenugreek gum is a unique galactomannan-type nonionic polysaccharide. This water-sol. hydrocolloid differs from most dietary fibers since it has only moderate viscosity and gelation properties, and yet the most pronounced health benefits. FenuPure is a purified fenugreek hydrocolloid product that is odor-free and fat-free. It has strong beneficial effects on diabetes mellitus since it acts as an excellent glucose level controller. It can also contribute to decreases of blood cholesterol levels and body wt. [on SciFinder(R)]

Water-dilutable food-grade microemulsions consisting of ethoxylated sorbitan esters, and in some cases blended with other emulsifiers, water, (R)-(+)-limonene, ethanol, and propylene glycol, have been prepd. These microemulsions are of growing interest to the food industry as vehicles for delivering and enhancing solubilization of natural food supplements with nutritional and health benefits. Lycopene, an active natural lipophilic antioxidant from tomato, has solubilized in water-in-oil, bicontinuous, and oil-in-water types of microemulsions up to 10 times the oil [(R)-(+)-limonene] dissoln. capacity. The effects of aq.-phase diln., nature of surfactant (hydrophilic-lipophilic balance), and mixed surfactant on solubilization capacity and solubilization efficiency were studied. Structural aspects studied by self-diffusion NMR were correlated to the solubilization capacity, and transformational structural changes were identified. [on SciFinder(R)]

The thermal reaction between cysteine and furfural was investigated at 65° C in 5-component food grade oil/water (O/W) microemulsions of R-(+)-limonene/ethanol, EtOH/water/propylene glycol, PG/Tween 60 as apart of a systematic study on the generation of aroma compds. by utilizing structured W/O and O/W fluids. The furfural-cysteine reaction led to the formation of unique aroma compds. such as 2-furfurylthiol, 2-(2-furanyl)thiazolidine (main reaction product), 2-(2-furanyl)thiazoline, and N-(2-mercaptovinyl)-2-(2-furanyl)thiazolidine. These products were detd. and characterized by GC-MS. Enhancement in flavor formation is termed "microemulsion catalysis". The chem. reaction occurs preferably at the interfacial film, and therefore a pseudophase model was assumed to explain the enhanced flavor formation. The product internal compn. is dictated by process conditions such as temp., time, pH, and mainly the nature of the interface. Increasing water/PG ratio leads to a dramatic increase in the initial reaction rate (V0). V0 increased linearly as a function of the aq. phase content, which could be due to the increase in the interfacial concn. of furfural. Microemulsions offer a new reaction medium to produce selective aroma compds. and to optimize their formation. [on SciFinder(R)]

The interactions of two groups of hydrated model crystals, CaHPO4.2H2O (DCPD) vs. Ca4(HPO4)(PO4)2 (OCP) and Ca oxalate monohydrate (COM) vs. Ca oxalate dihydrate (COD) with different org. additives are considered. DCPD ppts. as platelet-like crystals with the dominant faces shielded by hydrated layers and charged lateral faces. In the 2nd system COM has charged surfaces, while all faces of COD are covered with layers contg. water mols. The org. mols. tested include neg. charged, flexible and rigid small and macromols. (glutamic and aspartic acid, citrate, hexaammonium polyphosphate, phytate, and polyaspartate) and anionic surfactants (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS, sodium diisooctyl sulfosuccinate, AOT, sodium cholate NaC, and disodium oleoamido PEG-2 sulfosuccinate, PEG). Two types of effects were demonstrated: (i) effect on crystal growth morphol.: flexible org. mols. with high charge d. and anionic surfactants affected the growth morphol. of DCPD and COM by selectively interacting with the charged lateral faces while rigid mols. (phytate, polyaspartate) specifically recognized the dominant (010) face of DCPD due to structural and stereochem. compatibility. (ii) effect on phase compn.: anionic surfactants at concns. above the crit. micelle concn. promoted growth of OCP and COD resp. by selectively adsorbing at, and inhibiting growth of nuclei of DCPD and/or COM, which were dominant in the resp. control systems. The effect was esp. pronounced in the Ca oxalate pptn. system, where in some cases complete reversal of the phase compn. occurred. The important role of the hydrated layer, as part of the structure of the investigated crystal hydrates, in the above crystal additive interactions is discussed. [on SciFinder(R)]

The improved water and oil solubilization in the presence of polyols (propylene glycol, PG, and glycerol, Gly) and short-chain alc. (ethanol) in U-type nonionic W/O and O/W food microemulsions was investigated. The phase behavior of systems based on Tweens (ethoxylated sorbitan esters) was compared with non-food-grade systems based on C18:1E10 (Brij 96v). Short-chain alc. (ethanol in food-grade systems) together with polyols (glycerol and propylene glycol) when added to a three component system (oil-surfactant-water) induce the formation of both water-in-oil (W/O) and oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsions. Alcs. and polyols destabilize the liq. cryst. phase and extend the isotropic region to higher surfactant concns. The total monophasic area, AT, at R(+)-limonene/ethanol of 1/1 (wt./wt.) and aq. phase of water/PG of 1/1 (wt./wt.), was 73 and 64% of the total area of the phase diagram for Brij 96v and Tween 60, resp. The transition from a W/O microemulsion into an O/W microemulsion happens gradually, and continuously without any phase sepn. The total monophasic area depends also on the type of the oil, on the compn. of the polar and apolar phases, and on the nature of the polyol. Solubilization properties are explained n terms of spontaneous curvature, film flexibility, etc. Deviations from the BSO equation are explained in terms of the nature of the oil and surfactants. The difference in temp. sensitivity of PG-based microemulsions vs. temp. sensitivity of Gly-based is demonstrated and explained. [on SciFinder(R)]

The improved water and oil solubilization in the presence of polyols (propylene glycol, PG, and glycerol, Gly) and short-chain alcohol (ethanol) in U-type nonionic W/O and O/W food microemulsions was investigated. The phase behavior of systems based on Tweens (ethoxylated sorbitan esters) was compared with non-food-grade systems based on C18:1E10 (Brij 96v). Short-chain alcohol (ethanol in food-grade systems) together with polyols (glycerol and propylene glycol) when added to a three component system (oil-surfactant-water) induce the formation of both water-in-oil (W/O) and oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsions. Alcohols and polyols destabilize the liquid crystalline phase and extend the isotropic region to higher surfactant concentrations. The total monophasic area, A(T), at R(+)-limonene/ethanol of 1/1 (w/w) and aqueous phase of water/PG of 1/1 (w/w), was 73 and 64% of the total area of the phase diagram for Brij 96v and Tween 60, respectively. The transition from a W/O microemulsion into an O/W microemulsion happens gradually, and continuously without any phase separation. The total monophasic area depends also on the type of the oil, on the composition of the polar and apolar phases, and on the nature of the polyol. The results are discussed in terms of BSO equation, spontaneous curvature, H-0, film flexibility, K and (K) over bar, surfactant oil and surfactant cosolvent compatibility and the participation of the polyol at the interface. The difference in temperature sensitivity of PG-based microemulsions vs. temperature sensitivity of Gly-based is demonstrated and explained. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Organo-inorgano nanocomposites with colloidal dimensions have interesting optical, catalytic, and mech. properties, particularly when such hybrids are reinforced with transition metal oxide nanoparticles. Nanoparticles with a mean size of 1.0-2.4 nm are obtained through hydrolysis of aluminum isopropoxide in the L2 phase of amphiphilic (PDMS-POE) polydimethylsiloxane-polyoxyethylene Silwet L-7607-octanol/acetylacetone-water mixts. The particle sizes are related weakly to the microemulsion compn.: 0.8-1.2 nm for 20 wt% Silwet L-7607 and 2.0-2.4 nm for 50 wt% Silwet L-7607. Protection of the particles against aggregation is ensured through their confinement in the intra-aggregate colloidal domains. Factors affecting the hydrolysis-condensation process of acetylacetone-complexed aluminum isopropoxide in copolymer-poor and copolymer-rich regions of PDMS-POE W/O microemulsions are studied by Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, small angle X-ray scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. Prepd. nanoparticulate dispersions possess long-term stability and form clear mixts. in different org. polar and nonpolar solvents. (c) 2002 Academic Press. [on SciFinder(R)]

A review on basic and applied knowledge on protein-polysaccharide interactions in aq. medium and at the oil-water interface in food emulsion systems. [on SciFinder(R)]

A review on trends and progress in the exploration of new emulsifiers extd. from natural or biotechnol. sources and chem. or enzymically modified to fit the needs of new and advanced products in the food industry. [on SciFinder(R)]