Preparation of Nanocapsules with Alginate/Polylysine Complex Wall

Abstract

This paper deals with a novel preparation method of nanocapsules with alginate/polylysine complex wall. The preparation method consisted of the following steps: dispersion of an aqueous sodium alginate solution into cyclohexane to give a W/O emulsion, preparation of calcium alginate gel beads by adding the emulsion into a calcium aerosol OT solution in cyclohexane, and alginate/polylysine complex wall formation on the surface of calcium alginate beads by adding the beads into an aqueous poly-L-lysine solution. The size of alginate/polylysine complex capsules thus prepared was found to be 100-500 nm. Moreover, an attempt was made to prepare much smaller capsules using a laboratory-made apparatus for electrocapillary emulsification and the capsule size could be reduced to about 40 nm.