Influence of γ-lactones on monolinolein/water bulk and emulsified mesophases.

The emulsification of two flavor compounds of the gamma-lactone type with monolinolein liquid crystalline submicron particles is reported. The stabilization is ensured by the copolymer F127. gamma-Nonalactone can be loaded in bicontinuous cubic monolinolein particles at a larger level (up to 20 wt %) than gamma-decalactone (less than 15 wt %). The phase behavior of the ternary monolinolein/water/gamma-nonalactone system was studied. The large gamma-nonalactone content solubilized into cubosomes was corroborated by the observation of a wide cubic V-2 range in the ternary phase diagram. Surprisingly, no inverted hexagonal phase was found in the system. On the contrary, the incorporation of gamma-decalactone in the lipid particles gave rise to a dispersion of inverted hexagonal phase, which corresponds to a classical behavior of an oily additive. We finally determined the internal phase of particles including 10 wt % of gamma-nonalactone upon increasing the F127 content. We thus found that gamma-nonalactone restricts very significantly the interaction of the emulsifier with the cubosomes' interior.