Ultra-stable soybean oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by a polymeric surfactant derived from soybean oil

Abstract

A novel bio-based polymeric surfactant P(AESO-PEGMA) derived from soybean oil has been synthesized. The molecular structure of P(AESO-PEGMA) was characterized by using a combination of 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). And the surface activities of P(AESO-PEGMA) were investigated by using the method of surface tension, its critical micelles concentration (cmc) is 0.096 g L−1, indicating the excellent surface activities. Stable soybean oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by P(AESO-PEGMA) were obtained at a low concentration of 0.1 g L−1, and their properties were investigated by a laser particle size analyzer and an optical microscope. The stability of soybean oil-in-water emulsions increases with increasing P(AESO-PEGMA) concentration. Importantly, the soybean oil-in-water emulsions can remain stable for at least 12 months when the concentration is larger than 0.3 g L−1, which reveals the outstanding emulsification of P(AESO-PEGMA) to soybean oil. Besides, the emulsions prepared from castor oil, N-hexane, toluene and turpentine verify the fact that the excellent emulsifying ability of P(AESO-PEGMA) to soybean oil may attribute to the similarity compatibility at a certain extend.