Institute of High Pressure Physics

Hippocrates, the ancient father of medicine, coined the phrase 'let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,' which remains highly relevant in today's era of industrialized food. Linseed oil, now recognized for its valuable properties, serves as a beneficial aid in treating wounds and addressing skin cosmetic issues. Its effectiveness extends to conditions like enteritis, peptic ulcer disease, and serves as a preventive measure. Additionally, it exhibits positive impacts on obesity, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and the immune system, thanks to its unique components.

A reserach team from our Institute, NL10 Laboratory (X-PressMatter) in their recent publication [Drozd-Rzoska, A.; Rzoska, S.J.; Łoś, J. https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4125/4/1/3#mce_temp_url#. Biophysica 4, 34–58 (2024)], reveals that linseed oil's exceptional properties may be attributed to supercriticality, a feature previously overlooked. The report presents evidence of a strong and long-range supercritical effect on the dielectric constant, opening up new possibilities for applications based on precise modeling and enhancing its beneficial features.

The supercritical domain in linseed oil manifests in the liquid phase, coupled with a liquid-solid phase transition. Changes in the liquid phase resemble the isotropic phase of liquid crystals, characterized by a weakly discontinuous liquid-solid phase transition - a phenomenon unprecedented for such transitions. The report also highlights a pre-transitional effect in the solid phase, resembling 'premelting,' indicative of 'constrained criticality' leading to local areas of negative pressures and alterations in the dielectric constant of the Mossotti catastrophe type.

Often overlooked in fundamental considerations, natural systems like linseed oil, as demonstrated in this study, can serve as excellent models for understanding previously unknown phenomena.

Figure: Changes of a dielectric constant in Linseed Oil - supercritical  (liquid, red curve) and premelting (solid, blue curve). Arrows show the melting temperature and the sequence of liquid-liquid (L-L) and solid-solid (S-S) transitions.