Consumer concerns about synthetically derived food additives have increased current research efforts to find naturally occurring alternatives. This review focuses on a group of natural surfactants, the Quillaja saponins, that can be extracted from the Quillaja saponaria Molina tree. Quillaja saponins are triterpenoid saponins comprising a hydrophobic quillaic acid backbone and hydrophilic sugar moieties. Commercially available Quillaja saponin products and their composition and properties are described, and the technofunctionality of Quillaja saponins in a variety of food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical product applications is discussed. These applications make use of the biological and interfacial activities of Quillaja saponins and their ability to form and stabilize colloidal structures such as emulsions, foams, crystallized lipid particles, heteroaggregates, and micelles. Further emphasis is given to the complexation and functional properties of Quillaja saponins with other cosurfactants to create mixed surfactant systems, an approach that has the potential to facilitate new interfacial structures and novel functionalities.

中文翻译：

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Quillaja皂苷的特性和功能特性。

消费者对合成食品添加剂的担忧增加了当前的研究努力，以寻找天然存在的替代品。这篇评论集中在一组天然表面活性剂Quillaja皂苷，可以从Quillaja saponaria Molina树中提取。Quillaja皂苷是三萜类皂苷，包含疏水的quillaic酸骨架和亲水的糖部分。描述了可商购的Quillaja皂苷产品及其组成和性能，并讨论了Quillaja皂苷在各种食品，化妆品和药品应用中的技术功能。这些应用利用Quillaja皂苷的生物学和界面活性及其形成和稳定胶体结构（如乳液，泡沫，结晶脂质颗粒，杂聚集体和胶束。Quillaja皂苷与其他辅助表面活性剂的络合和功能特性得到了进一步的强调，以创建混合的表面活性剂系统，这种方法具有促进新的界面结构和新功能的潜力。