Abstract:

Ternary curcumin-organogels were prepared based on corn oil and by using sitosterol + letithin,cera- mide,ethyecellulose as thestructurants.Then,the effects of the structurants on the macroscopic properties (the rheological behaviors,the solid fat content,etc) and the microscopic properties (the microstructures,the crys- talline structure,etc) of ternary organogels were discussed,and the corresponding loading capacities were also evaluated.Experimental results show that (1) the structures of sitosterol + letithin-organogels and ceramide- organogels are similar and are both fibrous crystal structure,and the former exhibits a tighter network with higher encapsulation efficiency (EE) and loading capacity (LC),which are respectively (3. 14 ± 0. 10) mg/g and (62. 78 ±2. 01)%; (2) however,the structure of ethyecellulose-organogelsis totally different from the above two structures,and it is granular with a smaller crystal and relatively loose network; and (3) because of higher prepa- ration temperature.ethyecellulose-organogels show the highest load level,specifically,LC and EE are respectively (4. 810 ±0. 174)mg/g and (96. 19 ±3. 48)%. The above results indicate that the structurants significantly affect the properties,microstructures and loading capacity of organogels.

Key words: organogel, ternary systems, curcumin, structurants, microstructure