Abstract
Attempts were made to solubilize thymol in Tween 80 micelle to study the solubilization mechanism of thymol and the effect of solubilization on its antioxidant activity. The maximum solubilized concentration of thymol in a 2.0% (w/v) Tween 80 micelle solution is 0.2 wt%. There was no significant difference in Z-average diameter between the empty micelles and thymol solubilized micelles. 1H NMR spectra indicated that 3-H and 4-H on the benzene ring of thymol interacted with the ester group between the hydrophilic head group and the hydrophobic tail group of Tween 80 by Van der Waals’ force. Ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) and cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) assays showed that the reducing antioxidant activity of free thymol did not change after solubilized in Tween 80 micelles. Compared to free thymol, the solubilized thymol showed higher activities to scavenge DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and hydroxyl radicals. The present study suggested a possible preparation of thymol-carrying micelles with enhanced antioxidant activities that could be applied in food beverages.
Highlights
Attempts were made to solubilize thymol in Tween 80 micelle to study the solubilization mechanism of thymol and the effect of solubilization on its antioxidant activity
As thymol is a generally regarded as safe (GRAS) food additive used in USA, Europe and China, many studies have been conducted to show that thymol is a potential alternative to synthetic antioxidants in the food matrix
The maximum additive concentration (MAC) was defined as the highest concentration of a lipophilic compound that could be incorporated into a micellar surfactant solution at a given surfactant concentration[17]
Summary
Attempts were made to solubilize thymol in Tween 80 micelle to study the solubilization mechanism of thymol and the effect of solubilization on its antioxidant activity. Ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) and cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) assays showed that the reducing antioxidant activity of free thymol did not change after solubilized in Tween 80 micelles. The solubilized thymol showed higher activities to scavenge DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and hydroxyl radicals. In spite of the effective antioxidant activity at low concentrations in vivo and in vitro, thymol still sees a limited application in food industry due to its hydrophobicity that makes it difficult to uniformly disperse in food matrices. The antioxidant activities of the free and solubilized thymol were studied by ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP), cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC), DPPH radical scavenging activity, and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity
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