LAUSR

BACKGROUND The encapsulation of flavor and aroma compounds seems great potential in foods, while effectively prepared in the industry is still a great challenge. Inspired by leather tanning, tannic acid was used for deep cross-linking through hydrogen bond-driven assembly on soy protein isolate for encapsulating the limonene with a high loading ratio. RESULTS The added tannic acid changed the protein structure, and formed a limonene-loaded microcomplex. The morphology of these microcomplexes changed from smooth to rough, followed by the formation of smooth nanoparticle aggregates, by changing the amount of tannic acid. The encapsulation efficiency and loading ratio were increased from 0.78% and 4.30% to 59.32% and 45.78% with the increasing tannic acid from 1.875 to 60 mg/ml. The result of confocal laser scanning microscopy indicated that limonene is evenly distributed in microcomplexes. Additionally, the results of thermal stability protected of limonene by soy protein-tannic acid microcomplex. CONCLUSION It was suggested that the added tannic acid improved the encapsulation efficiency and loading ratio. Limonene is loaded in the complex in two ways. The present research provides a new and easy path for the preparation of the nonthermal soy protein aroma carrier. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.