Colloidal materials consisting of essential oils, food-grade surfactants and biopolymers, have attracted extensive attention due to their non-toxicity and antimicrobial activities; however, most of the systems investigated so far used commercial surfactants (Tween 80, modified starch and soy lecithin) that can only perform a simple function – stabilize the emulsion. In this work, sophorolipid butyl ester (SLBE), a biosurfactant produced from microbial fermentation, has been investigated. Notably, SLBE can perform dual functions, namely, stabilizing the emulsions while also being antimicrobial active. We have examined the use of SLBE as stabilizers of o/w emulsions containing oregano oil, and it has been found that SLBE was able to stabilize emulsions with oil concentrations 20 times that of the surfactant for almost a month. The addition of γ-polyglutamic acid (anionic polymer) to primary emulsions resulted in a decrease of oil droplet size, but an increase in creaming rate due to depletion flocculation, while the introduction of chitosan (cationic polymer) led to a significant decrease in both droplet size and the rate of creaming due to enhanced electrostatic repulsion. Further studies also showed that the application of SLBE could help increase materials’ antimicrobial activity against typical pathogenic microorganisms, especially for gram-positive bacteria. These results demonstrated the ability of this naturally derived surfactant, SLBE, to endow materials with both high stability and good antimicrobial properties, making it very promising for food applications.

Application of sophorolipid butyl ester as an antimicrobial surfactant

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.