A sight of self-assembly mechanism in fish oil oleogels: Phase transition, crystal structure and non-covalent interaction

Kaixing Cheng; Yanmo Pan; Zongyuan Han; Zefu Wang; Qinxiu Sun; Shuai Wei; Qiuyu Xia; Yang Liu; Shucheng Liu; Jun-Hua Shao

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137323

A sight of self-assembly mechanism in fish oil oleogels: Phase transition, crystal structure and non-covalent interaction

Food Chem. 2024 Feb 1:433:137323. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137323. Epub 2023 Sep 1.

Authors

Kaixing Cheng¹, Yanmo Pan¹, Zongyuan Han², Zefu Wang¹, Qinxiu Sun¹, Shuai Wei¹, Qiuyu Xia¹, Yang Liu¹, Shucheng Liu³, Jun-Hua Shao⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing and Safety, Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Marine Biological Products, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Seafood, Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing of Aquatic Product of Guangdong Higher Education Institution, Zhanjiang 524088, China.
² College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing and Safety, Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Marine Biological Products, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Seafood, Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing of Aquatic Product of Guangdong Higher Education Institution, Zhanjiang 524088, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing and Safety, Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Marine Biological Products, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Seafood, Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing of Aquatic Product of Guangdong Higher Education Institution, Zhanjiang 524088, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Seafood Deep Processing, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ College of Food Science, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110866, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 37678124
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137323

Abstract

Fish oils contain ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), but easily cause quality deterioration due to the oxidation. Beeswax-based oleogels could wrap fish oils by beeswax self-assembly. The phase transition, crystal structure and non-covalent interaction were investigated to reveal the self-assembly mechanism from the perspective of beeswax and oil phase characteristics. The results indicated that high unsaturation degree, PUFAs and beeswax additions promoted phase transition, SFC and stable crystal networks. The changes of crystal structures were ascribed to the polymorphism and polymorphic transition. β-Polymorphs could form crystal networks, and β'-polymorphs could influence the size of crystal chains or clusters as well as crystalline domains. Crystalline domain sizes affected crystal morphologies and network structures, including plate-like structures and multi-layer porous structures. UFAs could involve the beeswax self-assembly to change structure characteristics by van der Waals forces and π-π stacking. The OBC remained 100%, when beeswax additions reached more than 6%. Hence, beeswax additions, PUFA contents and unsaturation degree all influenced the self-assembly mechanism and adjusted the macroscopic properties of oleogels.

Keywords: Beeswax self-assembly; Crystal structure; Fish oil oleogels; Molecular interaction; Phase transition; Unsaturation degree.