Encapsulation of Lavandin Essential Oil in Poly‐(ϵ‐caprolactones) by PGSS Process

Abstract

Lavandin essential oil has been encapsulated in poly‐(ϵ‐caprolactone) (MW: 4000 g mol–1) by means of the particles from gas saturated solutions (PGSS) process. The influence of process conditions, i.e., pre‐expansion temperature and pressure, and oil/polymer mass ratio, on the morphology of particles and the efficiency of encapsulation has been analyzed. Spherical particles with particle sizes of 100–700 μm were obtained, with increasing particle sizes and more agglomeration as the oil/polymer ratio was increased. The efficiency of encapsulation was increased by conditions that favored a fast solidification of the polymer shell, including high pre‐expansion pressures, reaching efficiencies up to 50 % with oil loads up to 120 mg oil/g particles.

Microencapsulation of eucalyptol in polyethylene glycol and polycaprolactone using particles from gas-saturated solutions

“…Similar percentage yields have been reported in other studies using different terpene actives. 30,38 In this study, encapsulation efficiency was signicantly (p < 0.05) lower in PEG 4000 (61%), when compared to PCL 10000 (77%) or the polymeric blends (63-77%). Computed results showed that encapsulation efficiencies recorded in this study were either higher or within range of those previously reported in literature.…”

“…Essential oils have been encapsulated in liposomes and polymers using scCO 2 techniques such as rapid expansion of supercritical solution (RESS) and particles from gas-saturated solution (PGSS) respectively. [27][28][29][30] The RESS technique employs scCO 2 as a solvent and uses organic co-solvents such as ethanol that can denature the bioactive with unwanted residual effect on the drug formulation. Unlike RESS that uses scCO 2 as a solvent, the PGSS process exploits the ability of scCO 2 to liquefy and plasticize a range of polymers such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polycaprolactone (PCL) at relatively high pressures and low temperatures by lowering the point at which the polymers melt.…”

“…Essential oils from different plants and individual terpene constituents such as limonene have been successfully encapsulated in octenyl succinic-anhydride modied starch, PCL and PEG using PGSS. 29,30,33,34 Varona et al 30 showed that higher antibacterial activity was achieved for lavandin essential oil particles produced by PGSS-drying as compared to those produced by spray drying. The use of PCL alone as drug delivery carrier is limited due to its high hydrophobicity.…”

Microencapsulation and Nanoencapsulation Using Supercritical Fluid (SCF) Techniques

“…The solution will then be expanded via a nozzle into a spray chamber at atmospheric pressure. The CO 2 gas then leaves the gas-saturated polymer/fat droplets and also during expansion, the temperature of the mixture reduces drastically due to the Joule–Thomson effect, hence causing the polymer solidification [88]. A similar process termed as supercritical melt micronization (ScMM) has been developed for the micronization of fats (such as hard fats or milk fats) [89,90,91,92].…”

Novel Technologies Based on Supercritical Fluids for the Encapsulation of Food Grade Bioactive Compounds

“…After this first study, the literature is abundant on PGSS findings showing the potential of the technique for the micronization of food ingredients and bioactive compounds such as mackerel reaction oil [ 66 ], menthol [ 70 ], β-carotene [ 30 ] and several essential oils [ 39 , 59 , 71 , 75 ]. In most of the studies, polyethylene glycol has been used as carrier material for the encapsulation and protection of bioactives.…”