液态油脂结构化研究目前是现代食品加工业的热点问题。本文利用三萜化合物甘草酸铵作为天然结构化材料，将液态植物油结构化形成乳液凝胶（Emulsion gel）。该乳液凝胶油含量高，且制备方法简单温和。利用激光共聚焦显微镜和偏光显微镜观察的微观结构显示，在较高的甘草酸铵浓度和油含量下，作为活性填充颗粒的油滴紧密堆积在凝胶网络中，强化了凝胶结构。流变学测试结果也显示，在相同甘草酸铵浓度下，制备的乳液凝胶强度显著高于相应浓度的水凝胶。另外，荷载β-胡萝卜素对凝胶结构性质影响不明显，而且乳液凝胶保持良好的稳定性，表明该乳液凝胶具备作为油溶性生物活性物质输送体系的潜力。研究结果显示，利用两性小分子甘草酸铵作为天然结构化材料制备的乳液凝胶在功能性食品和药品等领域都具有宽阔的应用前景。

Edible lipid oil structuring is a hot topic in the modern food processing industry. In this study, triterpenoid glycyrrhizic acid (GA) was used as a natural structuring agent to transform vegetable oil into emulsion gels. The emulsion gels stabilized with GA contained a high content of oil and the preparation procedure was simple and mild. The microscopic structures observed using laser confocal microscopy and polarized light microscopy showed that at high GA and oil concentrations, the oil droplets that served as active filler particles were found to be closely packed in the gel network, thus strengthening the gel structure. The rheological results showed that at the same GA concentration, the gel strength of the emulsion gel was significantly higher than that of the hydrogel. In addition, the incorporation of β-carotene did not affect the gel structure significantly, and a good stability was maintained in the emulsion gel, indicating that GA-based emulsion gels could be used as a potential oil-soluble delivery system for bioactive ingredients. These findings suggested that emulsion gels prepared from the amphiphilic small molecule GA could have a broad range of applications in functional foods, pharmaceuticals, and other fields.

国家自然科学基金资助项目（31130042）；国家自然科学基金面上项目（31371744）