2.1. Chemicals and reagents
Algal oil was purchased from Baoding Faithful Industry Co. (Baoding, China). Monolaurin was purchased from Inspired Nutrition (Salem, OR, USA), and the MAG/DAG mixture used was Grindsted®Mono-Di HV52 K-A, purchased from Danisco USA Inc.®(New Century​, KS, USA). Ryoto Sugar Ester: S-1570, S-1170, and S-970 (with HLB values 15,11, and 9, respectively) were obtained from Mitsubishi-Kagaku Foods Corporation (Tokyo, Japan). Tween® 80 was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO, USA). All other reagents and solvents were of analytical or HPLC grades and were purchased from Fisher Chemical (Fair Lawn, NJ, USA), Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Co. and J. T. Baker Chemical Co. (Phillipsburg, NJ, USA). All materials mentioned were used without further purification steps.