Functionality
What determines the functionality of lecithins?
The active components of lecithins are the phospholipids. The basic structure of phospholipids is shown below, with the differentiation between polar and non-polar molecular regions (classical structure of surfactant substances).
THE phospholipid PRINCIPLE: polarity ► surface activity
Phospholipids can differ substantially in the type of polar head group (see illustration), as well as the level of saturation and length of the fatty acid chains linked to positions C1 and C2.
MAIN PHOSPHOLIPIDS
With different phospholipids, through controls / modifications of the phospholipid standard, it is possible to derive a great variety of lecithin products. These structures of modified phospholipids can be called "lecithins", despite the possibility of having completely different functionalities, depending on their individual application.
Cargill knows the characteristic properties of the lecithin components, and has a great experience on the characteristics and needs of each industry, being able to render all this knowledge in a wide range of processes and technologies.
Some Cargill products are only approved for use in certain geographies, end uses, and/or at certain usage levels. It is the customer's responsibility to determine, for a particular geography, that (i) the Cargill product, its use and usage levels, (ii) the customer's product and its use, and (iii) any claims made about the customer's product, all comply with applicable laws and regulations.
