The dilatable membrane of oleosomes (lipid droplets) allows their in vitro resizing and triggered release of lipids.

It has been reported that lipid droplets (LDs), called oleosomes, have an inherent ability to inflate or shrink when absorbing or fueling lipids in the cells, showing that their phospholipid/protein membrane is dilatable. This property is not that common for membranes stabilizing oil droplets and when well understood, it could be exploited for the design of responsive and metastable droplets. To investigate the nature of the dilatable properties of the oleosomes, we extracted them from rapeseeds to obtain an oil-in-water emulsion. Initially, we added an excess of rapeseed oil in the dispersion and applied high-pressure homogenization, resulting in a stable oil-in-water emulsion, showing the ability of the molecules on the oleosome membrane to rearrange and reach a new equilibrium when more surface was available. To confirm the rearrangement of the phospholipids on the droplet surface, we used molecular dynamics simulations and showed that the fatty acids of the phospholipids are solubilized in the oil core and are homogeneously spread on the liquid-like membrane, avoiding clustering with neighbouring phospholipids. The weak lateral interactions on the oleosome membrane were also confirmed experimentally, using interfacial rheology. Finally, to investigate whether the weak lateral interactions on the oleosome membrane can be used to have a triggered change of conformation by an external force, we placed the oleosomes on a solid hydrophobic surface and found that they destabilise, allowing the oil to leak out, probably due to a reorganisation of the membrane phospholipids after their interaction with the hydrophobic surface. The weak lateral interactions on the LD membrane and their triggered destabilisation present a unique property that can be used for a targeted release in foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

Impact of Particle Sedimentation in Pendant Drop Tensiometry.

Understanding the interface-stabilizing properties of surface-active components is key in designing stable macroscopic multiphase systems, such as emulsions and foams. When poorly soluble materials are used as an interface stabilizer, the insoluble material may sediment and interfere with the analysis of interfacial properties in pendant (or hanging) drop tensiometry. Here, the impact of sedimentation of particles on the interfacial properties determined by pendant drop tensiometry was evaluated using a model system of whey protein isolate and (non surface-active) glass beads (2.2-34.7 µm). Although the glass beads did not adsorb to the air-water interface, a 1% (w/w) glass bead solution appeared to decrease the surface tension by nearly 12 mN/m after 3 h. A similar effect was shown for a mixture of whey proteins and glass beads: the addition of 1% (w/w) of glass beads led to an apparent surface tension decrease of 31 mN/m rather than the 20 mN/m observed for pure whey proteins. These effects are attributed to the sedimentation of particles near the apex of the droplet, leading to droplet shape changes, which are interpreted as a decrease in surface tension using tensiometer software. The droplet density at the apex increases due to sedimentation, and this density increase is not accounted for when fitting the droplet shape with the Young-Laplace equation. The result is the observed apparent decrease in surface tension. In contrast to the significant impact of sedimenting material on the surface tension measurements, the impact on the results of oscillatory deformations was limited. These findings show that the impact of sedimentation should be considered when studying the interface-stabilizing properties of materials with reduced solubility, such as certain plant protein extracts. The presence of such particles should be carefully considered when conducting pendant drop tensiometry.

Relaxation Behavior and Nonlinear Surface Rheology of PEO-PPO-PEO Triblock Copolymers at the Air-Water Interface.

Surface dilatational viscoelasticity of adsorbed layers of pluronics triblock copolymers at the air-water interface was measured using the oscillating barrier technique. The effect of molecular architecture and concentration on surface viscoelasticity was explored for two different types of pluronics with different degrees of hydrophobicity, Pluronic F-108 (Mw ≈ 14 600 g/mol) and Pluronic P-123 (Mw ≈ 5800 g/mol), the former exhibiting a larger hydrophilic to hydrophobic block length ratio. Frequency sweeps in the linear regime suggested that interfacial films of F-108 have higher surface limiting elasticity and larger in-plane and out-of-plane relaxation times at the same bulk concentration (the former possibly related to in-plane microstructure rearrangements, the latter to surface/bulk diffusion). Increasing the bulk concentration of pluronics from 1 to 100 µM led to a decrease in both in- and out-of-plane relaxation times. Large amplitude oscillatory dilatation (LAOD) tests were performed to capture nonlinear behavior of these interfacial films by means of elastic and viscous Lissajous plots. Nonlinearities in elastic responses were quantified through calculation of the strain-stiffening indices in extension SE and compression SC. Both pluronics exhibited strain softening in extension. In compression, P-123 showed strain-hardening and F-108 displayed a relatively linear response. Apparent strain hardening in extension was observed for the P-123 adsorbed film, at high strain, at a bulk concentration of 100 µM. However, at these strains, the response was dominated by the viscous contribution and calculation of strain rate-thickening factors in extension and compression showed that the overall response was strain rate-thinning in extension and strain rate-thickening in compression.

Gas-liquid phase equilibrium of a model Langmuir monolayer captured by a multiscale approach.

The gas-liquid expanded phase transition of a Langmuir monolayer happens at very low surface concentrations which makes this phenomenon extremely expensive to explore in finite three-dimensional (3D) atomistic simulations. Starting with a 3D model reference system of amphiphilic surfactants at a 2D vapor-liquid interface, we apply our recently developed approach (Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 16238) and map the entire system to an effective 2D system of surfactant center-of-masses projected onto the interface plane. The coarse-grained interaction potential obtained via a force-matching scheme from the 3D simulations is then used to predict the 2D gas-liquid phase equilibrium of the corresponding Langmuir monolayer. Monte Carlo simulations in the Gibbs ensemble are performed to calculate areal densities, chemical potentials and surface pressures of the gaseous and liquid coexisting phases within the monolayer. We compare these simulations to the results of a 2D density functional approach based on Weeks-Chandler-Anderson perturbation theory. We furthermore use this approach to determine the density profiles across the equilibrium gas-liquid dividing line and the corresponding line tensions.

Modifying the Contact Angle of Anisotropic Cellulose Nanocrystals: Effect on Interfacial Rheology and Structure.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are an emerging natural material with the ability to stabilize fluid/fluid interfaces. Native CNC is hydrophilic and does not change the interfacial tension of the stabilized emulsion or foam system. In this study, rodlike cellulose particles were isolated from hemp and chemically modified to alter their hydrophobicity, i.e., their surface activity, which was demonstrated by surface tension measurements of the particles at the air/water interface. The buildup and mechanical strength of the interfacial structure were investigated using interfacial shear and dilatational rheometry. In contrast to most particle or protein-based interfacial adsorption layers, we observe in shear flow a Maxwellian behavior instead of a glasslike frequency response. The slow and reversible buildup of the layer and its unique frequency dependence indicate a weakly aggregated system, which depends on the hydrophobicity and, thus, on the contact angle of the CNC particles at the air/water interface. Exposed to dilatational flow, the weakly aggregated particles cluster and form compact structures. The interfacial structure generated by the different flow fields is characterized by the contact angle, immersion depth, and layer roughness obtained by neutron reflectometry with contrast variation while the size and local structural arrangement of the CNC particles were investigated by AFM imaging.

Contribution of Long Fibrils and Peptides to Surface and Foaming Behavior of Soy Protein Fibril System.

When soy glycinin (11S) is heated for a prolonged time at pH 2 (20 h at 85 °C), a mixture is formed consisting of long semiflexible 11S fibrils and small peptides. The surface and foaming properties of this mixture were investigated at different pHs, and compared to the behavior of pure fibrils and pure peptides, to determine the individual contributions of these two factions to the behavior of the mixture. The adsorption of these three systems at air-water interfaces and the resulting surface rheological properties were studied by combining drop shape analysis tensiometry, ellipsometry, and surface large amplitude oscillatory dilatational (LAOD) rheology. Lissajous plots of surface pressure versus deformation were used to analyze the surface rheological response in terms of interfacial microstructure. Our results show that the adsorption kinetics, dilatational rheological properties, and the foaming behavior of the mixture were mainly dominated by the small peptides in the fibril system. Compared to pH 2, the fibril mixture at pH 5 and 7 provides much better foam stability and appears to be a very promising protein material to make stable foams, even at low protein concentration (0.1 wt %). The presence of fibril clusters and peptide aggregates at pH 5 and 7 contributed to foam stability of the mixture. In contrast, pure fibril formed an interface with a highly pH-responsive adsorption and rheological behavior, and the foamability and foam stability of the pure fibrils were very poor.

Nonlinear Surface Dilatational Rheology and Foaming Behavior of Protein and Protein Fibrillar Aggregates in the Presence of Natural Surfactant.

The surface and foaming properties of native soy glycinin (11S) and its heat-induced fibrillar aggregates, in the presence of natural surfactant steviol glycoside (STE), were investigated and compared at pH 7.0 to determine the impact of protein structure modification on protein-surfactant interfacial interactions. The adsorption at, and nonlinear dilatational rheological behavior of, the air-water interface were studied by combining drop shape analysis tensiometry, ellipsometry, and large-amplitude oscillatory dilatational rheology. Lissajous plots of surface pressure versus deformation were used to analyze the surface rheological response in terms of interfacial microstructure. The heat treatment generates a mixture of long fibrils and unconverted peptides. The presence of small peptides in 11S fibril samples resulted in a faster adsorption kinetics than that of native 11S. The addition of STE affected the adsorption of 11S significantly, whereas no apparent effect on the adsorption of the 11S fibril-peptide system was observed. The rheological response of interfaces stabilized by 11S-STE mixtures also differed significantly from the response for 11S fibril-peptide-STE mixtures. For 11S, the STE reduces the degree of strain hardening in extension and increases strain hardening in compression, suggesting the interfacial structure may change from a surface gel to a mixed phase of protein patches and STE domains. The foams generated from the mixtures displayed comparable foam stability to that of pure 11S. For 11S fibril-peptide mixtures STE only significantly affects the response in extension, where the degree of strain softening is decreased compared to the pure fibril-peptide system. The foam stability of the fibril-peptide system was significantly reduced by STE. These findings indicate that fibrillization of globular proteins could be a potential strategy to modify the complex surface and foaming behaviors of protein-surfactant mixtures.

Modelling the rheology of anisotropic particles adsorbed on a two-dimensional fluid interface.

We present a general approach based on nonequilibrium thermodynamics for bridging the gap between a well-defined microscopic model and the macroscopic rheology of particle-stabilised interfaces. Our approach is illustrated by starting with a microscopic model of hard ellipsoids confined to a planar surface, which is intended to simply represent a particle-stabilised fluid-fluid interface. More complex microscopic models can be readily handled using the methods outlined in this paper. From the aforementioned microscopic starting point, we obtain the macroscopic, constitutive equations using a combination of systematic coarse-graining, computer experiments and Hamiltonian dynamics. Exemplary numerical solutions of the constitutive equations are given for a variety of experimentally relevant flow situations to explore the rheological behaviour of our model. In particular, we calculate the shear and dilatational moduli of the interface over a wide range of surface coverages, ranging from the dilute isotropic regime, to the concentrated nematic regime.

The Landau free energy of hard ellipses obtained from microscopic simulations.

Systems of two-dimensional hard ellipses of varying aspect ratios and packing fractions are studied by Monte Carlo simulations in the generalised canonical ensemble. From this microscopic model, we extract a coarse-grained macroscopic Landau-de Gennes free energy as a function of packing fraction and orientational order parameter. We separate the free energy into the ideal orientational entropy of non-interacting two-dimensional spins and an excess free energy associated with excluded volume interactions. We further explore the isotropic-nematic phase transition using our empirical expression for the free energy and find that the nature of the phase transition is continuous for the aspect ratios we studied.

Impact of Deformability and Rigidity of Starch Granules on Linear and Non-Linear Rheological Behavior of Waxy Rice Starch Gels and Applicability for Food End Uses.

The objective of this study was to investigate granule size and distribution and deformability of granules and their effect on the rheological properties of waxy starch gels. Native (granular) waxy rice gels (10%) were prepared, and their response in oscillatory shear was investigated in the linear and non-linear viscoelastic regime. The results show the gels were mainly composed of aggregated and deformed swollen granules. Significance of granule size and its distribution, deformability of granules, and the molecular characteristics of amylopectin (AP) on storage modulus of those gels was demonstrated. A low degree of deformability of granules, typical for small granules with a broad size distribution and small molecular size of AP with short external chains, resulted in rigid and brittle gels. Highly deformed granules and high AP leachates, however, yielded soft gels. It was found that the transition of elastic to plastic behavior in the non-linear regime (LAOS) was gradual when AP had long external chains, but an abrupt transition was observed with the gel with short exterior chains of AP. Differences in rheological properties of cohesive waxy starch gels appear to be mainly impacted by the varying degrees of granule deformability and rigidity, which is further attributed to a combination of factors, including granule size, particle size distribution, molecular size, the external chain length of amylopectin (AP), and lipid content. The significance of this study is that it will assist the food industry in selecting suitable waxy rice starches to gain desired textural properties of end products.

Oil-water interface and emulsion stabilising properties of rapeseed proteins napin and cruciferin studied by nonlinear surface rheology.

HYPOTHESIS: Two major protein families are present in rapeseed, namely cruciferins and napins. The structural differences between the two protein families indicate that they might behave differently when their mixture stabilises oil-water interfaces. Therefore, this work focuses on elucidating the role of both proteins in interface and emulsion stabilisation. EXPERIMENTS: Protein molecular properties were evaluated, using SEC, DSC, CD, and hydrophobicity analysis. The oil-water interface mechanical properties were studied using LAOS and LAOD. General stress decomposition (GSD) was used as a novel method to characterise the nonlinear response. Additionally, to evaluate the emulsifying properties of the rapeseed proteins, emulsions were prepared using pure napins or cruciferin and also their mixtures at 1:3, 1:1 and 3:1 (w:w) ratios. FINDINGS: Cruciferins formed stiff viscoelastic solid-like interfacial layers (Gs' = 0.046 mN/m; Ed' = 30.1 mN/m), while napin formed weaker and more stretchable layers at the oil-water interface (Gs' = 0.010 mN/m; Ed' = 26.4 mN/m). As a result, cruciferin-formed oil droplets with much higher stability against coalescence (coalescence index, CI up to 10%) than napin-stabilised ones (CI up to 146%) during two months of storage. Both proteins have a different role in emulsions produced with napin-cruciferin mixtures, where cruciferin provides high coalescence stability, while napin induces flocculation. Our work showed the role of each rapeseed protein in liquid-liquid multiphase systems.

Non-linear surface dilatational rheology as a tool for understanding microstructures of air/water interfaces stabilized by oligofructose fatty acid esters.

In this paper, the rheological response of air/water interfaces, stabilized by various oligofructose fatty acid esters, to oscillatory dilatational deformations was studied and compared to the response of interfaces stabilized by sucrose esters. We have followed a traditional approach to surface rheology, where the development of the modulus as a function of time is studied as well as the frequency dependence of the modulus. We also adopted a different approach where we investigate in detail the amplitude dependence of the modulus. Finally, we studied the temperature dependence. We show that for an accurate characterization of the dilatational rheology of fluid­fluid interfaces with a complex microstructure, a protocol should be used that not only involves variations of surface pressure, frequency, and temperature, but also establishes amplitude dependence. We show that Lissajous plots of surface pressure versus deformation can be useful tools to help interpret surface dilatational behavior in terms of interfacial microstructure. The rheological response of interfaces stabilized by oligofructose esters differed significantly from the response of those stabilized by sucrose esters. Sucrose esters behaved like typical low molecular weight surfactants, and gave interfaces with relatively low moduli, a frequency scaling of the dilatational modulus with an exponent close to 0.5, and displayed no asymmetries in Lissajous plots. In contrast, the oligofructose esters gave, depending on the fatty acid tail, relatively high moduli, almost independent of frequency. Significant asymmetries were observed in the Lissajous plots, with strain hardening during compression and strain softening during extension. Our results suggest that the unusual rheological properties of interfaces stabilized by oligofructose esters may be the result of the formation of a two-dimensional soft glass phase by the oligofructose part of the ester.

Surface stress decomposition in large amplitude oscillatory interfacial dilatation of complex interfaces.

HYPOTHESIS: Multiphase materials are often subjected to large deformations during processing, but the rheological responses of complex interfaces (e.g. stabilized by proteins) in this nonlinear deformation regime are still poorly understood. We expect nonlinearities in the response to be introduce by changes of the interfacial network and surface density of the emulsifier. EXPERIMENTS: Large amplitude oscillatory dilatation (LAOD) experiments were performed on WPI-, pea albumin-, pea globulin- and rapeseed lecithin-stabilized interfaces and analyzed with a general stress decomposition (GSD). With GSD, the stress response was decomposed into the four stress terms (τ1-τ4). Here, τ1 and τ2 represent, the elastic and viscous contribution of the odd Fourier harmonics, and τ3 and τ4 represent the dissipative and recoverable contribution of the even harmonics. FINDINGS: Analysis of WPI-, pea albumin-, pea globulin- and rapeseed lecithin-stabilized interfaces revealed that higher odd harmonics (k≥3) describe in-plane network responses and that even harmonics describe surface density changes. Analysis of these complex interfaces showed that GSD is a valuable tool for (quantitative) description of interfacial responses in LAOD, providing new insights into the origin of asymmetric nonlinear stress responses.

Molecular structure and linear-non linear rheology relation of rice starch during milky, dough, and mature stages.

Immature rice has potential to be used as healthy food. The relation between molecular structure and rheological properties was investigated. The lamellar repeating distance (8.42-8.63 nm) and crystalline thickness (4.60-4.72 nm) were not different among stages indicating a complete lamellar structure even at early stage. The relative crystallinity was higher in dough (39.62 %) than milky (36.69 %) and mature starch (35.22 %) caused by molecular structure, amylose, and amylose-lipid complex. The short amylopectin branched chains (A and B1) in dough starch were easily entangled resulted in higher Payne effect and elastic dominant. Dough starch paste exhibited higher G'Max (738 Pa) than milky (685 Pa) and mature (645 Pa) starch. In a non-linear viscoelastic regime, small strain hardening was found in milky and dough starch. Mature starch showed the highest plasticity and shear thinning at high-shear strains as the long-branched chains (B3) microstructure was disrupted, disentangled, followed by chain orientation along shear.

The emulsifying ability of oleosomes and their interfacial molecules.

Oleosomes are natural oil droplets, present in all organisms and abundant in oilseeds. After their aqueous extraction from oilseeds, they can be directly utilized as oil droplets in food, cosmetics and all types of oil-in-water emulsion systems. However, to expand the potential uses of oleosomes as green ingredients and to valorize oilseeds as efficient as possible, we explored their emulsifying ability. Oleosomes were extracted from rapeseeds, and 10.0 wt% oil-in-water emulsions were created after homogenization with 0.5-6.0 wt% oleosomes, and the droplet size of the emulsions and their structure was measured by laser diffraction and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), respectively. The emulsion with an oleosome concentration lower than 1.0 wt% gave unstable emulsions with visible free oil. At oleosome concentrations at 1.5 wt% or higher, we obtained stable emulsions with droplet sizes between 2.0 and 12.0 µm. To investigate the role of the oleosome interfacial molecules in stabilizing emulsions we also studied their emulsifying and interfacial properties (using drop tensiometry) after isolating them from the oleosome structure. Both oleosomes and their isolated interfacial molecules exhibited a similar behavior on the oil-water interfaces, forming predominantly elastic interfacial films, and also showed a similar emulsifying ability. Our results show that oleosomes are not stabilizing the oil-in-water emulsions as intact particles, but they provide their interfacial molecules, which are enough to stabilize an oil-water surface up to about 2 times bigger than the initial oleosome surface. The understanding of the behavior of oleosomes as emulsifiers, opens many possibilities to use oleosomes as alternative to synthetic emulsifiers in food and pharma applications.

Pasting and Rheological Properties of Starch Paste/Gels in a Sugar-Acid System.

This study was to investigate the impact of granule size, amylose content, and starch molecular characteristics on pasting and rheological properties of starch paste/gels in neutral (water) and sugar-acid systems. Normal rice starch (RS), waxy rice starch (WRS), normal tapioca starch (TS), and waxy tapioca starch (WTS) representing small-granule starches and intermediate-granule starches respectively, were used in the study. Impacts of granule size, AM content, and their synergistic effects resulted in different starch susceptibility to acid hydrolysis and interactions between starch and sucrose-water, yielding different paste viscosities in both systems. The high molecular weight (Mw¯) and linearity of amylopectin and amylose molecules increased the consistency of starch pastes. RS produced a stronger and more brittle gel than other starch gels in both neutral and sugar-acid systems. The results indicated the impact of the effect of granule size and amylose content on starch gel behaviors. Properties of waxy starch gels were mainly governed by amylopectin molecular characteristics, especially in the sugar-acid system. Adding sugar and acid had minor impacts on starch gel behaviors in the linear viscoelastic (LVE) region but were most evident in the nonlinear response regime of starch gels as shown in the Lissajous curves at large oscillatory strain.

Non-linear rheology reveals the importance of elasticity in meat and meat analogues.

The interest in plant-based meat analogues as an alternative to meat is currently growing. Rheological benchmarking is used to reveal how closely meat analogues resemble the original meat products. Texture maps and dissipation colour schemes were used to reveal similarities in and differences between rheological responses of meat and meat analogues (especially chicken analogues). Under heating, meat analogues differ in terms of their lower elasticity compared with heated meat. The changes caused by heating meat and meat analogues were different as well. Heating of meat resulted in a tougher and more elastic material, while heating has a minor effect on meat analogues. Future developments should therefore focus on routes to create more elasticity and possibly allow heating effects on texture to mimic meat characteristics even better.

Large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) for nonlinear rheological behavior of heterogeneous emulsion gels made from natural supramolecular gelators.

The linear and nonlinear rheological behaviors of heterogeneous emulsions gels made from natural glycyrrhizic acid (GA) nanofibrils and sitosterol-oryzanol mixtures (sterols) were investigated using small amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) and large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS). The nonlinear rheological response was qualitatively analyzed using normalized Lissajous-Bowditch curves. The microstructure of the emulsion gels strongly depended on the concentration of sterols in the oil phase, and showed a percolated segregated network at 10-20 wt% sterols due to the partial coalescence of droplets, and a jamming transition without coalescence at higher sterols concentration of 30 wt%. The microstructure differences led to different linear and nonlinear viscoelastic behaviors of these emulsion gels. SAOS tests showed that the oil phase structuring by the sterols significantly enhance the viscoelasticity of GA nanofibril emulsion gels, and the percolating emulsion gels exhibited higher elasticity than the jammed emulsion gel, as evidenced by a lower damping factor and frequency power-law exponent. The data of crossover strain, phase angle, and the normalized Lissajous-Bowditch curves from LAOS tests further revealed that compared to the samples in a jammed state or without oil phase structuring, the emulsion gels with a percolating segregated network showed higher structural elasticity and thus were more resistant to large deformations, probably due to the slow relaxation of rigid, hydrodynamically interacting clusters of partially coalesced droplets. These findings could potentially aid in the design of novel emulsion gels, based on all-natural and sustainable building blocks, with specific textural and functional properties for foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical applications.

Air-water interfacial behaviour of whey protein and rapeseed oleosome mixtures.

HYPOTHESIS: Plant seeds store lipids in oleosomes, which are storage organelles with a triacylglycerol (TAG) core surrounded by a phospholipid monolayer and proteins. Due to their membrane components, oleosomes have an affinity for the air/oil-water interface. Therefore, it is expected that oleosomes can stabilise interfaces, and also compete with proteins for the air-water interface. EXPERIMENTS: We mixed rapeseed oleosomes with whey protein isolate (WPI), and evaluated their air-water interfacial properties by interfacial rheology and microstructure imaging. To understand the contribution of the oleosome components to the interfacial properties, oleosome membrane components (phospholipids and membrane proteins) or rapeseed lecithin (phospholipids) were also mixed with WPI. FINDINGS: Oleosomes were found to disrupt after adsorption, and formed TAG/phospholipid-rich regions with membrane fragments at the interface, forming a weak and mobile interfacial layer. Mixing oleosomes with WPI resulted in an interface with TAG/phospholipid-rich regions surrounded by whey protein clusters. Membrane components or lecithin mixed with proteins also resulted in an interface where WPI molecules aggregated into small WPI domains, surrounded by a continuous phase of membrane components or phospholipids. We also observed an increase in stiffness of the interfacial layer, due to the presence of oleosome membrane proteins at the interface.

Adsorption of rapeseed proteins at oil/water interfaces. Janus-like napins dominate the interface.

Plants offer a vast variety of protein extracts, typically containing multiple species of proteins that can serve as building blocks of soft materials, like emulsions. However, the role of each protein species concerning the formation of emulsions and interfaces with diverse rheological properties is still unknown. Therefore, deciphering the role of the individual proteins in an extract is highly relevant, since it determines the optimal level of purification, and hence the sustainability aspects of the extract. Here, we will show that when oil/water emulsions were prepared with a rapeseed protein extract containing napins and cruciferins (in a mass ratio of 1:1), only napins adsorbed at the interface exhibiting a soft solid-like rheological behavior. The dominance of napins at the interface was ascribed to their small size (radius r = 1.7 nm) and its unique Janus-like structure, as 45% of the amino acids are hydrophobic and primarily located at one side of the protein. Cruciferins with a bigger size (r = 4.4 nm) and a more homogeneous distribution of the hydrophobic domains couldn't reach the interface, but they appear to just weakly interact with the adsorbed layer of napins.