Abstract
Essential oil compounds (EOCs) are molecules with well-known antimicrobial and antipest activity. However, such molecules possess limited solubility in water, making their handling difficult. This work aimed to enhance the distribution of a solid essential oil compound, thymol, using oil-in-water (o/w) microemulsions for its solubilization. The use of mixtures formed by an alkyl polyglucoside (APG) and soybean lecithin (SL) allowed for stabilization of the o/w microemulsions in a broad range of compositions, with the total concentration of the mixture of the two surfactants (APG+SL) and the APG:SL ratio both being essential for controlling the nature of the obtained dispersions. The microemulsions obtained using oleic acid as the oil phase and with compositions far from those corresponding to the onset of the emulsion region showed a good efficiency for thymol solubilization. This is an advantage from a stability point of view, as well as for ease of thymol preparation. The present work opens new alternatives for designing eco-sustainable formulations for EOC solubilization, with the possibility of preparing the formulations at the place of use, thereby saving transport costs and reducing the emission of pollutants.
Highlights
The pursuit for new formulations that increase the availability of hardly soluble molecules in water is a challenge for different scientific and technological fields, ranging from cosmetics to food science, and from drug delivery to pest control [1]
Different types of emulsions can be distinguished: macroemulsions, nanoemulsions and microemulsions [7]. These classifications are not based on the size of the dispersed phase, as might be expected from their names, with the thermodynamic stability being the main difference between the different types of emulsions
The use of thermodynamically stable emulsions—the so-called microemulsions—seems to be preferred, which is mainly associated with their thermodynamic stability and the low mechanical energy needed for preparation of their dispersions
Summary
The pursuit for new formulations that increase the availability of hardly soluble molecules in water is a challenge for different scientific and technological fields, ranging from cosmetics to food science, and from drug delivery to pest control [1]. This has driven extensive research that aims to overcome the main limitations associated with dispersion of such molecules, and includes designing well-sketched platforms which enable their solubilization [2,3,4,5]. It has previously been demonstrated that encapsulation of EOCs enhances their stability and activity, enabling sustained release of the loaded molecules [6,22]
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