Emulsifying and β-carotene encapsulation properties of natural rosin-based phosphate ester

The advancement of functional emulsions and emulsion gels that incorporate natural chemical constituents is a significant area of research. The molecular architecture of natural lecithin is characterized by a combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments, which facilitates its solubility in both aqueous and organic solvents, thereby enhancing its efficacy as an emulsifying agent. The study focused on the structural modification of lecithin by incorporation of natural hard tricyclic diterpene molecules, and the resulting compounds (DDPT) could form oil-in-water emulsions with well-dispersed, regular, rounded droplets in soybean oil. It is noteworthy that stable water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion gels containing 50% dichloromethane can be successfully prepared when the emulsifier concentration exceeds 5 wt%, and the frequency scanning results of the rheological tests show that the energy storage modulus G’ is larger than the loss modulus G". Encapsulation studies involving β-carotene revealed that the emulsions achieved a high encapsulation efficiency of up to 94.7% ± 1.5%. The results indicate that the synergistic interplay between the terpene moiety and lecithin structure in the emulsifier significantly enhances encapsulation of β-carotene. The work presents a viable pathway for a promising avenue for the application of emulsion systems in the encapsulation and stabilization of bioactive compounds.