Protein interaction:

Proteins are important substances in many food products, gluten in bread offer structure and volume, dairy products like yoghurt and cream gain their stability from proteins. Proteins are sensitive for low pH, salts, alcohol, high temperatures and shear; this can cause protein flocculation which is mostly irreversible. Sucrose esters can interact with the protein molecule (see figure 1) and make the proteins less susceptible to flocculation. A hydrophobic bond can be formed between the non-polar side groups of the amino acid and the fatty acid chain of the sucrose ester molecule. The hydrophilic sucrose part will be at the protein surface, increasing the solubility and decreasing the sensitivity of the protein.

figure 1: Hydrophobic binding between proteins and sucrose esters