The present invention relates to a method to vary the critical micelle concentration of Soya lecithin in aqueous solution.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[002] The term lecithin refers to phosphatidyl choline. It is derived from vegetables, corn, or beans, soy, which includes in addition to phosphatidyl choline: phosphatidyl ethanolamine; phosphatidyl inositol; phosphatidic acid; phosphatidyl serine; glycolipids; and other components. The amount of phosphatides in typically supplied lecithin oil is approximately 35% to about 65% by weight.
[003] In general Lecithin involves a variety of naturally occurring fatty compounds found in animal and plant tissues. Composed of choline, fatty acids, glycerol, glycolipids, phospholipids, phosphoric acid and triglycerides. Lecithin was originally isolated from egg yolk. Today, it is regularly extracted from cottonseed, marine sources, milk, rapeseed, soybeans and sunflower.
[004] Lecithin is a food additive that comes from several sources- one of them being soy. It’s generally used as an emulsifier, or lubricant, when added to food, but also has uses as an antioxidant and flavour protector.
[005] Soy lecithin is widely found in both conventional and health food stores. It’s often used as an ingredient in food products and is sold in supplement form. Soy lecithin is found in dietary supplements, ice cream and dairy products, infant formulas, breads, margarine, and other convenience foods.
[006] In gum base, the Soy lecithin acts as an emulsifier, softener, mouth texturizer, moisture retainer, stabilizer, and flavor sensory enhancer.
[007] When used as an emulsifier, Soy lecithin allows fats and oils to be added to the base more easily and allows same to be blended into other ingredients. This allows the resultant base to be more homogeneous.
[008] When lecithin used as an emulsifier it broken down the oil into smaller particles in a process called emulsification, making the oil droplets easier to clean or digest when eaten.
[009] Additionally, its ability to emulsify fats makes it an ideal ingredient for nonstick cooking sprays and soaps.
[010] The critical micelle concentration (CMC) is defined as the concentration of surfactants or emulsifying agents above which micelles form and all additional surfactants added to the system will form micelles in the solvent. The CMC is an important characteristic of a surfactant. Before reaching the CMC, the surface tension changes strongly with the concentration of the surfactant. After reaching the CMC, the surface tension remains relatively constant or changes with a lower slope.
[011] Therefore the CMC value of a surfactant plays a very important role to develop and stabilize an emulsion or for developing the micelles in the solution. The value of the CMC for a given dispersant in a given medium depends on temperature, pressure, and on the presence and concentration of other surface active substances and electrolytes.
[012] The invention is providing a method to vary the critical micelle concentration of Soya lecithin in a solution containing propylene glycol (PG) concentrations in water.
OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
[013] The main objective of the invention is to provide a method to vary the critical micelle concentration of Soya lecithin in a solution.
[014] These and other features and advantages of the present invention may be incorporated into certain embodiments of the invention and will become more fully apparent from the following description or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter. The present invention does not require that all the advantageous features and all the advantages described herein be incorporated into every embodiment of the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[057] Disclosing a method to vary the CMC of a soybean lecithin in solutions. Due to the properties of propylene glycol, which are being able to dissolve hydrophobic substances and miscible in water, propylene glycol can dissolve the soya lecithin surfactant in aqueous solutions by interacting with the hydrophobic chain of soybean lecithin surfactants. This results in the hydrophilic part of surfactant head being orientated towards the aqueous phase and form interactions with water molecules. High concentration of propylene glycol interfere the aggregation of surfactant monomers delaying the micellization in a solution. Therefore the CMC of surfactants will increases as the concentration of propylene glycol increases in a solution.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[015] The present invention will become more understandable from the description given herein and the accompanying drawings below. These are given by way of illustration only and therefore not limited to present invention and wherein:
[016] Figure 1 illustrates the CMC of soya lecithin in the different concentrations of PG (5% v/v to 40% v/v) measured at 25°C. Derived count rate (kcps) were obtained for different concentration of soybean lecithin using dynamic light scattering.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[017] The following presents a simplified description of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This description is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form.
[018] Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.
[019] Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.
[020] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
[021] It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
[022] By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.
[023] It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.
[058] Disclosing a method to vary the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of a soybean lecithin in solutions.
[059] When dynamic light scattering technique is used with a zetasizer, a sudden increase in kcps is observed. The CMC of soya lecithin increases with an increase in the concentration of propylene glycol in water.
[060] Due to the properties of propylene glycol, which are being able to dissolve hydrophobic substances and miscible in water, propylene glycol can dissolve the soya lecithin surfactant in aqueous solutions by interacting with the hydrophobic chain of soybean lecithin surfactants. This results in the hydrophilic part of surfactant head being orientated towards the aqueous phase and form interactions with water molecules. High concentration of propylene glycol interferes the aggregation of surfactant monomers delaying the micellization in a solution. Therefore the CMC of surfactants will increases as the concentration of propylene glycol increases in a solution.
[061] In an embodiment the concentration of propylene glycol ranges from 10-90% in the solution.
[062] In a preferred embodiment the concentration of propylene glycol ranges from 5-40% v/v in the solution.
[063] Embodiment-1
[064] Materials and Methods: Soya lecithin (PHOSPHOLIPON®) was purchased from Lipoid GmbH and propylene glycol and glycerol were purchased from SIGMA Aldrich.
[065] Method to vary CMC: dissolve 1% w/v of lecithin in 30% v/v Propylene glycol, 30% v/v Glycerol and a mixture of the two organic solvents containing 15% v/v of each in water to determine the CMC of soya lecithin in the three different types of organic solvents. Milli-Q water is used to make up the total volume of all the solutions.
[066] A stock solution of 5% w/v lecithin is prepared in propylene glycol, glycerol and a 1:1 mixture of the two. A wide range of concentrations (5, 10, 20, 30, 40%v/v), which are the concentrations of before and after the CMC, of soybean lecithin in the three different solutions were prepared by dilution of the stock solutions. Diluted solutions are prepared in Milli-Q water. All solutions are sonicated for 5 minutes and kept at room temperature for an hour to stabilise the formulations.
[067] Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) refers to a certain concentration of a surfactant where the process of micellization starts. At the CMC the surface of a solution is saturated and there is no more decline in the surface tension of a solution as micelles formed within the solution. Small changes in kcps are observed before reaching the CMC. When CMC is reached, the Derived count rate (Kcps) increases rapidly.
[068] Dynamic light scattering: Derived count rate (Kcps) rather than size is measured to determine the CMC because samples showed either high or low polydispersity (PDI). When using a Zetasizer only a certain range of concentrations meets the quality criteria for very small particle size to be measured accurately. Thus, to give an accurate measure of micelles formed with a very small size, it is better to use Kcps. The Kcps of the solutions are measured one day after preparation using a Zetasizer and any changes in kcps were recorded. The point at which there is a sudden raise in kcps value is considered to be the CMC.
[069] The kcps of the solutions of soya lecithin in PG/water mixtures is constant and starts to increase near the CMC of soybean lecithin (surfactant). As illustrated in Table-1 and Figure-1, the CMC of soybean lecithin increases as the concentration of propylene glycol increases in the formulation. It showed the higher the proportion of propylene glycol, the higher the CMC of lecithin. Propylene glycol is an organic solvent which can dissolve soybean lecithin. This could prevent the self-aggregation of surfactants and delay the initiation of micelle formation by increasing the CMC.
[070] Table 1: CMC of soya lecithin in the different concentrations of PG (5% v/v to 40% v/v) measured at 25°C.
Sr. No. Concentration of propylene Glycol CMC of soya lecithin (mg/ml)
1. 5% 0.7
2. 10% 1.4
3. 10% 1.9
4. 10% 1.85
5. 10% 2

[071] Although embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the system and method described herein. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
[072] Many alterations and modifications of the present invention will no doubt become apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art after having read the foregoing description. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. It is to be understood that the description above contains many specifications; these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the personally preferred embodiments of this invention.

We claim,

1. A method to vary the critical micelle concentration of soya lecithin comprising
a. solution 1: dissolve 5% w/v of lecithin in 5-40% v/v of Propylene glycol; or
b. solution-2: dissolve 5% w/v of lecithin in 30% v/v Glycerol; or
c. mix the solution-1 and solution-2 in 1:1 ratio
d. make up the volume to 100% with Milli-Q water and mix with sonication and keep at room temperature for an hour to stabilise the formulation; and
e. measure the Derived count rate (Kcps) using a Zetasizer.
2. The method to vary the critical micelle concentration of soya lecithin as claimed in claim 1, wherein the kcps of the solution of soya lecithin starts to increases rapidly near the CMC of soybean lecithin.
3. The method to vary the critical micelle concentration of soya lecithin as claimed in claim 1, wherein the propylene glycol and/or glycerol prevents the self-aggregation of soya lecithin and delays the initiation of micelle formation by increasing the CMC.