Effect of pH on the adsorption kinetics of egg yolk at the triacylglycerol–water interface and viscoelastic properties of interfacial egg yolk films: a dynamic drop tensiometry study

Abstract

Interfacial properties of normal egg yolk (EY), as well as stabilized, i.e. enzymatically modified with phospholipase A2, egg yolk (SEY) at the triacylglyceride (TAG) oil–water interface have been investigated with the use of the dynamic drop tensiometry (DDT) technique in the wide interval of pH values of aqueous EY solutions. We found that for both EY and SEY pH values of their aqueous solutions affect absolute values of interfacial tension at the TAG oil–water interface. In the presence of EY this effect was more pronounced, with minimum of interfacial tension values at pH nearly equal to the isoelectric point of EY proteins. For SEY solutions no clear trend was noticed, although a reduction of interfacial tension near pH 6 was also observed. Moreover, the pH-dependence of nearly steady values of interfacial tension in the presence of EY was substantially less pronounced than it has been reported previously. It was also found that there is a difference in the interfacial viscoelasticity of SEY and EY films formed at the TAG oil–water interface. Although the dependence of dilational modulus, ∣ ε∣, versus surface pressure for SEY solutions goes through a maximum, absolute values of ∣ ε∣ increase for EY solutions in a wide pH range. At the same time, no visible effect of pH on the viscoelasticity of EY and SEY interfacial films was noticed. It became clear from the dilational modulus versus surface pressure curves for both EY and SEY that adsorption of their surface-active components at the TAG oil–water interface occurs in a step-wise manner. We found also that the phase angle values for the adsorbed EY layers were lower that those observed in the presence of SEY, indicating an increasing viscous contribution to the dilational modulus in the SEY-containing system.