Properties of nanostructured vitamin C and prospects for its use in functional food products

Abstract

The study was conducted to study the properties of nanostructured vitamin C in var-ious carbohydrate shells (xanthan gum, sodium alginate, carrageenan, konjac gum, gellan gum) and the possibility of its use as a functional ingredient. The study of the self-organization of nanostructured vitamin C showed that the formation of nanocap-sules occurs spontaneously due to non-covalent interactions. This indicates that they are characterized by self-assembly. Since fractal compositions are found in an aque-ous solution of nanocapsules at a sufficiently low concentration, they have self-organization. The presence of a fractal indicates the possibility of obtaining a com-pletely different polymer with an almost unchanged composition of the macromole-cule. This "new polymer" will have different molecular characteristics and a different suprasegmental structure. Therefore, nanostructured vitamin C has supramolecular properties. It is shown that the shape and size of vitamin C nanocapsules significantly depend on the nature of the shell. The polydispersity coefficient in xanthan gum is 3.40, which suggests that the vitamin C nanocapsules in this case approach the ellip-soid shape, and in konjac gum, gelan gum, and carrageenan, this coefficient has a value of 1.26, 1.39, and 1.48, respectively, which indicates an approximation of the geometry of these nanocapsules in a spherical shape. At the same time, the average size of nanocapsules also significantly depends on the nature of the shell: the largest average size (358 nm) is characteristic of xanthan gum, and the smallest average size (93 nm) of particles is observed in konjac gum. At the same time, the smallest size of D10 (74 nm) is characteristic of carrageenan. The introduction of nanostructured vit-amin C in the formulation of marmalade and wheat bread allows you to get ready-made products with functional properties.