Metal-emulsions droplet interactions

Therefore, to understand the behavior of food emulsions, we need to know as much as possible about these types of emulsifiers, because fliey may not behave exactly similarly to classical small-molecule emulsifiers. For example, phospholipid molecules can interact with each other to form lamellar phases or vesicles they may interact with neutral lipids to form a mono- or multi-layer around the lipid droplets, or they may interact with proteins which are either adsorbed or free in solution. Any or all of these interactions may occur in one food emulsion. The properties of the emulsion system depend on which behavior pattern predominates. Unfortunately for those who have to formulate food emulsions, it is rarely possible to consider the emulsion simply as oil coated with one or a mixture of surfactants. Almost always there are other components whose properties need to be considered along with those of the emulsion droplets themselves. For example, various metal salts may be included in the formulation (e.g. Ca " is nearly always present in food products derived from milk ingredients), and there may also be hydrocolloids present to increase the viscosity or yield stress of the continuous phase to delay or prevent creaming of the emulsion. In addition, it is very often the case, in emulsions formulated using proteins, that some of the protein is free in solution, having either not adsorbed at all or been displaced by other surfactants. Any of these materials (especially the metal salts and the proteins) may interact with the molecules... 

The interfacial thickness of emulsion droplets is an important parameter affecting lipid oxidation reaction rates. Increasing interfacial membrane thickness can conceivably hinder the physical interaction between aqueous phase prooxidants (e.g., transition metals) and emulsified lipids(Chaiyasit et al., 2000 Silvestre et al., 2000). For example, Silvestre and co-workers (2000) showed that iron-catalyzed cumenehydroperoxide reduction, as well as salmon oil-in-water emulsion oxidation, was slower when Brij 700 was used in place of Brij 76. Brij 700 and 76 are small molecule surfactants with identical hydrophobic tail group lengths (CHjlCH lj -), but vary only with respect to the size of their polar head groups Brij 700 and Brij 76 consist of 100 and 10 oxyethylene head groups, respectively. Lower hydroperoxide decomposition and lipid oxidation rates in Brij 700-stabilized emulsions suggest that a thicker interfacial layer was able to act as a physical barrier to decrease lipid-prooxidant interactions (Silvestre et al., 2000). 

Two factors have been considered [245] to control the particle size in reverse microemulsions. One of them is the number of microemulsion droplets when the number is large, the average content of the reactants per droplet becomes low, causing the formation of a large number of nuclei in the system and finally, particles of small size. Another factor for small size is reduced interdroplet interaction and exchange of materials. This may take place due to steric hindrance offered by surfactant films, or their low deformability or strong attachment to droplets. A general experience, of course, is that the two-emulsion method yields smaller particles, especially in case of metals [242]. 

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