Self-Assembled Liquid Particles: How to Modulate their Internal Structure - Food Colloids: Self-Assembly and Material Science - page 83

enables us to 'tune back' the self-assembled structure in the oil-loaded disper-
sions from hexosomes to cubosomes of Im3m symmetry.
The effect of DGMO on the structure of the MLO + TC + water system in
its colloidal emulsified state is shown in Figure 13. The MLO + DGMO + TC
mixtures, with different DGMO/MLO ratios (denoted as b in %) and a fixed d
value of 94.3, were dispersed in large amount of excess water using the block
copolymer F127 as the stabilizer. At 251C, in the absence of DGMO ( b ¼ 0),
the scattering curve displays three peaks in the characteristic ratio for a
hexagonal phase (hexosomes). When part of the MLO is replaced by DGMO
( b ¼ 25), the observed three peaks in the scattering curve move to lower angles,
corresponding to larger scale structures. A further increase of the DGMO
concentration in the dispersion ( b ¼ 50 and 100) leads to a scattering curve
which shows the characteristic ratio for a cubic structure of the type Im3m.
Previously, we found that the replacement of MLO by TC induces a transition
from cubosomes via hexosomes to EME, while as shown here we see that
DGMO promotes a reversed transition from hexosomes back to cubosomes.
This means that this surfactant has a counter effect on the internal confined
structure of the particles to that of the oil.

5.4 Conclusions and Outlook
Self-assembled structures, such as inverted mesophases of the cubic or hexag-
onal geometry, or reverse microemulsion phases, can be readily dispersed using
a polymeric stabilizer. They are interesting for many reasons. They provide the

1

β =100

β = 75

β = 25

β = 0

0 1 2 3 4

q (nm -1 )

Figure 13 Effect of DGMO content on the scattering curves of TC-loaded aqueous
dispersions at 251C for d ¼ 94.3, and with different b values in the range of 0-
100. Intensities are shifted vertically by a constant arbitrary factor for better
visibility