Sitosterol and oryzanol self-assemble to form very firm gels in a range of organic solvents. However, due to the formation of sitosterol hydrate crystals, these gels are unstable in the presence of water, prohibiting the dispersal of water droplets throughout the gel matrix. We demonstrate that by using glycerol as the polar phase rather than water, droplets may be dispersed throughout the oil phase without disrupting the self-assembly of the gel. As increasing volumes of water are added to the glycerol, the G′ values decrease. This can be correlated to both a drop in water activity, and also the stability of the fibrils in the presence of glycerol compared to water, as elucidated by molecular dynamics simulations. We explore how changing the total volume of polar droplets, and changing the water content of these droplets alters the strength of 15% w/w sterol gels. We find that gels exhibit G′ values of ∼1 × 10⁷ Pa even with ∼30% w/w glycerol dispersed throughout the matrix. At higher glycerol loadings, complex multiple emulsion morphologies can form.

中文翻译：

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固体可食用有机凝胶基质中液滴的稳定乳液

谷甾醇和谷维素在多种有机溶剂中自组装形成非常牢固的凝胶。但是，由于谷甾醇水合物晶体的形成，这些凝胶在水的存在下是不稳定的，从而阻止了水滴分散在整个凝胶基质中。我们证明通过使用甘油而不是水作为极性相，液滴可以分散在整个油相中，而不会破坏凝胶的自组装。随着越来越多的水添加到甘油中，G值降低。如分子动力学模拟所阐明的，这可以与水分活度的下降以及在甘油存在下与水相比的原纤维的稳定性相关。我们探索了如何改变极性液滴的总体积以及改变这些液滴的水含量如何改变15％w / w固醇凝胶的强度。我们发现，即使在整个基质中分散有约30％w / w甘油，凝胶的G '值也约为1×10 ⁷ Pa。在较高的甘油负载下，会形成复杂的多种乳液形态。