At the time of the mid-report period, albeit with some delays, all WPs have started. Due to the unavailability of the laboratory space and the delays in receiving some equipment in the first reporting period (18 months) we focused on the modelling work, we took advantage of existing and newly formed collaboration with other research institutions (University of Leeds, Imperial College London, Università di Torino, CNR di Bari) and industrial partners (Nestlé) to access specific laboratory equipment and, finally we performed experiments at large research facilities via a peer-reviewed application process (European, British and Italian synchrotron, ESRF, Diamond and Elettra).
As part of a collaboration with the University of Leeds we explored the crystallization behaviour of natural sugars and collected crystallographic and physical data (e.g. solubility, thermal behaviour). With the University of Leeds and Imperial College London we studied the relationship between crystal structure of a natural flavonoid molecule and its surface properties, using molecular modelling and inverse gas chromatography available at Imperial College. Both studies were published on two different papers in the ACS journal Crystal Growth and Design and are part of the tasks envisaged for WP1.
In collaboration with the university of Leeds and the British synchrotron (Diamond Light source), we studied the stabilization mechanisms of cocoa butter crystals based oleofoams that can be used as topical delivery media or for food formulations. The work was published on the ACS journal Langmuir and is part of the project’s WP1 and WP4. In collaboration with the university of Leeds, we kept working on cocoa butter oleogels (the precursors of oleofoams) and published a review of Food Hydrocolloids and an original pape on Advance Materials interfaces on the use of cocoa butter oleogels to produce emulsions. We have another paper just accepted on Food Hydrocolloids on the use of cocoa butter oleogels as double emulsion stabilizers.
Since the end of the laboratory refurbishment (July 2022) we started actively working on WP1, focussing on solid form screening with the purchase Crystal16 and CrystalBreeder (equipment specified in the costing plan), particle characterization with chemical force microscopy and formulation characterization with Raman confocal microscopy. We published a paper on Crystal Growth and Design related to the solid form landscape of quercetin, a natural polyphenol, which was determind as part of a collaboration with CNR Bari and università di Torino.
At the mid-report time two postdoctoral researchers and four PhD students are working on the project; with the plan of hiring a further PhD student (part-time on the grant, looking at colloidal formulations and their performance). One of the PhD scholarship has been co-funded by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, which agreed to the ERC terms and conditions.
We were awarded several days of beamtime at ESRF, Diamond Light Source and Elettra, and started internal collaborations at Politecnico di Torino and with the University of Bologna, resulting in two publications on Chemistry Communication and the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In collaboration with three different syncrothrons (ESRF, Elettra and Diamond Light Source) we worked on understanding how tryglyceride composition affect the type, number and stability of polymorphs forming in edible fat mixtures.
