Effect of cosolvent and surfactant on the solubility and stability of citral in a beverage model

To evaluate how triacetin and surfactant affect the solubilization and stability of citral, solutions containing citral were prepared with polyoxyethylene stearyl ethers and triacetin. Triacetin had a significant impact on the increment of saturation concentration of citral, and the citral solubility increased as surfactants were added. However, an interaction effect between triacetin and surfactant on citral solubility was not observed. At pH 3, the degradation rate constant of citral gradually decreased with a proportion of the triacetin concentration. Additionally, the chemical degradation of citral was considerably retarded in micelles built with surfactant. The surfactant with the smaller hydrophilic head exhibited higher citral stabilization ability than the one with the larger hydrophilic head; however, a negative interaction effect between triacetin and surfactant on citral stability in an acidic environment was observed.