Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science最新文献

Foamed cereal foods are a significant part of our daily diet. Colloidal and interfacial science principles provide insights on how to devise novel aerated cereal foods that may also address environmental and human health needs in our diets and for optimizing the sensory and nutritional quality of foamed cereal products. We review recent literature where colloidal science principles have been employed to understand relations between the creation of bubbles in food materials, bubble growth and interactions, and how this history governs the microstructure and the mechanical properties of foamed cereal products that are critical to the appearance and quality of a range of food products such as bread, cakes, snack foods, and breakfast cereals. Product density and its frequently measured corresponding quality equivalent, specific volume, are key considerations of both the visual appeal and the eating quality of foamed cereal products.

Chiral surfactants represent a class of amphiphilic compounds characterized by hydrophilic headgroups and hydrophobic tails, coupled with one or several chiral centers within their molecular structures. Beyond possessing typical surfactant properties, they exhibit inherent asymmetry. Their aggregation behaviors and self-assembled structures can be effectively modulated by substituting chiral groups or introducing functional groups at the chiral center. Numerous endeavors have been undertaken to craft chiral surfactants with sophisticated physicochemical properties and burgeoning applications. This review delves into the aggregation behaviors of chiral surfactants sourced from various origins and possessing different molecular structures, with a focus on key parameters including headgroup, spacer and counterion. Moreover, applications of these multifunctional chiral surfactants are summarized across several active domains, including chiral recognition, enantiomer separation, asymmetric catalysis and the synthesis of chiral nanomaterials. Finally, it outlines perspectives and future challenges associated with chiral surfactants, highlighting avenues for further exploration and advancement in this field.

Chelating surfactants are amphiphilic molecules capable of forming coordination complexes with metal ions and self-assembling into organized structures. These compounds have gained significant attention in recent years due to their multifaceted applications in environmental remediation, industrial processes, and material sciences. This review provides an overview of the characterization techniques and recent advancements in the applications of chelating surfactants over the past few years. The review begins by elucidating the characterization methods employed to understand the physicochemical properties of chelating surfactants and gain insight into their complex behavior and interactions in various systems. The applications of chelating surfactants in remediation of wastewater and soil, flotation of minerals, oil recovery processes, and corrosion inhibition in metallic structures are explored. Through examination of recent fundamental research activities, innovative approaches, mechanisms of action, and advancements in the different application domains are highlighted. Lastly, some recent progress in the related field of metallosurfactants is explored, even though not all metallosurfactants are chelating.

Amphiphilic surfactant molecules can spontaneously self-assemble into various colloidal aggregates in aqueous solution. The heterogeneous microstructure and the dynamic assembling nature endow surfactant aggregates with the capability of encapsulating fluorophores and modulating their photophysical properties, and lead to wide applications in constructing fluorescent sensors. The present short review mainly focuses on introducing the advances of surfactant aggregates in constructing cross-reactive fluorescent sensor and arrays that can generate fingerprint recognition pattern and realize discrimination. The construction strategies based on both nonfluorescent surfactant aggregates and surfactant-like fluorescent amphiphile aggregates were particularly introduced. The important roles played by surfactant aggregates in each strategy were as well discussed.

Sucrose esters (SEs), derived from sucrose and fatty acids, are biodegradable and non-toxic surfactants increasingly favored as substitutes for petrochemically synthesized ones in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. SEs provide versatile hydrophilic–lipophilic properties, determined by the degree of sucrose esterification ranging from one to eight. The length of the fatty acid residues further influences the phase behavior of SEs, allowing creation of tailored formulations for specific applications. This review provides insights about our current understanding of the SEs phase behavior, their aggregation in aqueous and oily solutions, and its correlation with formulation outcomes. Furthermore, an overview of recent studies investigating SEs in various colloidal systems, including emulsions, foams, oleogels, and others, is provided. Novel concepts are discussed alongside future research directions, emphasizing the SEs potential as sustainable, functional ingredients.

Metal corrosion is the degradation of a metal due to its reaction with the environment. One of the most effective ways of securing metal surface from corrosion is the use of corrosion inhibitors. Surfactants are an important category of corrosion inhibitors that have intrinsic amphiphilicity. The anticorrosion efficacy of surfactants is closely related to their chemical composition, molecular structure, and adsorption affinity on the metal surface. This review first summarizes the corrosion inhibition mechanism of surfactants and elucidates the influence of charge properties and structural characteristics on their corrosion inhibition efficiency, and then discusses the recent development of novel surfactants for metal anticorrosion application. Next, the synergistic effects of surfactants and other materials for metal anticorrosion are elucidated. We finally discuss the problems and challenges for the development of surfactant corrosion inhibitors and give a perspective in this field, hoping to provide help for future research.

Multidrug combination therapies have been proven to be advantageous in combating the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens in recent years, not only contributing to the medical/therapeutic landscape but also offering insights into microbial ecology and evolution. Because antimicrobial surfactant-like peptides kill bacteria/fungi via disrupting the membranes, it is less likely for the microorganisms to develop resistance. Associations of two or more drugs with at least one of them to be an antimicrobial peptide have contributed to the treatment of difficult-to-treat infectious diseases caused by pathogens in numerous in vitro studies. The synergistic action of cationic antimicrobial peptide or surfactant-like molecule with a current antibiotic can bring an effective measure to overcome antimicrobial resistance. Through reviewing recent advances in combinatorial therapies, we show that synergy between different agent types could be a fundamental defense strategy to find against multidrug resistance. Peptide combinations and conjugations with themselves or other molecules could effectively avoid the disadvantages of individual compounds, enhancing antibacterial activity, delivery efficiency and selectivity whilst introducing new functionalities. Combined therapies among peptide amphiphiles, antibiotics and non-antibiotics may provide a practical avenue for an effective management of antibiotic-resistant superbugs and biofilms.

Due to the widespread and excessive use of antibiotics, bacterial resistance has become an increasingly serious problem affecting public health. Amphiphilic peptide hydrogels have good biological and mechanical properties, and can be used as ideal substitutes for antibiotics in the fields of infection control and wound healing. This review systematically summarized the design principles, assembly mechanism, and the latest progress of amphiphilic peptide hydrogels. Based on the molecular structure and function of peptides, the antibacterial mechanism of amphiphilic peptide hydrogels is further elaborated. Finally, we provide a perspective for the future development of antibacterial applications of amphiphilic peptide hydrogels. It is hoped that this review can provide inspiration for the design of amphiphilic peptide hydrogels and promote their clinical transformation against bacterial infections.

Microgels stand out as compelling alternatives to traditional emulsifiers in Pickering emulsions, owing to their unique deformability and responsiveness, distinguishing them from rigid particles and conventional surfactants. In this review, we provide an overview of recent advancements and breakthroughs in microgel synthesis and the stabilization of Pickering emulsions using microgels. Additionally, we discuss the underlying stabilization mechanisms of microgel-stabilized emulsions, elucidating the influencing factors such as microgel properties, environmental conditions, and interfacial structures that significantly impact emulsion stability. Given these recent achievements, we summarize and highlight the promising applications associated with diverse Pickering emulsion systems stabilized by tailored microgels, including interfacial catalysis, functional foods, vaccine adjuvants, stimuli-responsive colloidosomes, and droplet manipulation. Conclusively, we identify the existing research gaps in microgel studies and propose future directions, emphasizing the need for the rational design of microgels, comprehensive mechanism studies of microgel-stabilized emulsions, and the formation of next-generation Pickering emulsions.

Microfluidic techniques have emerged as powerful tools to unveil dynamic processes occurring during foam and emulsion production, and instabilities during their lifetime (coalescence and digestion), and to gain detailed insights in interfacial effects at (sub)millisecond time scales, including but not limited to, interfacial adsorption (i.e. dynamic interfacial/surface tension) and interfacial rheology. These insights are pivotal in connecting the interfacial effects to dynamic processes as they would occur during emulsion/foam production. We highlight the importance of conducting research at relevant time scales.