Influence of γ-Lactones on Monolinolein/Water Bulk and Emulsified Mesophases

The emulsification of two flavor compounds of the γ-lactone type with monolinolein liquid crystalline submicron particles is reported. The stabilization is ensured by the copolymer F127. γ-Nonalactone can be loaded in bicontinuous cubic monolinolein particles at a larger level (up to 20 wt %) than γ-decalactone (less than 15 wt %). The phase behavior of the ternary monolinolein/water/γ-nonalactone system was studied. The large γ-nonalactone content solubilized into cubosomes was corroborated by the observation of a wide cubic V₂ range in the ternary phase diagram. Surprisingly, no inverted hexagonal phase was found in the system. On the contrary, the incorporation of γ-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 γ-nonalactone upon increasing the F127 content. We thus found that γ-nonalactone restricts very significantly the interaction of the emulsifier with the cubosomes' interior.