Investigation of Micellization and Vesiculation of Conjugated Linoleic Acid by Means of Self-Assembling and Self-Crosslinking

摘要

Bioactive and biocompatible conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has been only considered as a food or medicine ingredient due to its rare natural occurrence. In this work, the surface activities and pH-induced self-assembling behaviors of the semi-synthetic CLA molecules into micelles or vesicles were systematically investigated. First, the self-assembling of CLA was studied in detail, and it was found that aside from temperature and ionic strength, pH is the prominent factor affecting the self-assembling of CLA. Moreover, stable CLA ufasomes (unsaturated fatty acid liposomes) in uniform size were obtained by self-crosslinking of the CLA ufasomes, and the morphologies of the crosslinked CLA assemblies were recorded by transmission electron microscopy, which made known the pH-induced formation of the CLA ufasomes or the CLA micelles. The crosslinked CLA assemblies presented improved properties such as a higher calcium stability, a lower lime soap dispersing requirement and a better solubilization ability than that of the CLA molecules themselves or the pre-crosslinked linoleic acids. These investigations could be helpful for comprehensively understanding effects of environment factors on self-assembling behaviors of conjugated fatty acids and responsive polymerization of polymerizable surfactants.