Micro-encapsulation

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Microencapsulation is a process in which tiny

pharmaceuticals.[4]

In its simplest form, a microcapsule is a small sphere comprising a near-uniform wall enclosing some material. The enclosed material in the microcapsule is referred to as the core, internal phase, or fill, whereas the wall is sometimes called a shell, coating, or membrane. Some materials like lipids and

alginate
, may be used as a mixture to trap the material of interest inside. Most microcapsules have pores with diameters between a few nanometers and a few micrometers. Materials generally used for coating are:

The definition has been expanded, and includes most foods, where the encapsulation of

flavors is the most common.[5] The technique of microencapsulation depends on the physical and chemical properties of the material to be encapsulated.[6]

Many microcapsules however bear little resemblance to these simple spheres. The core may be a crystal, a jagged adsorbent particle, an emulsion, a Pickering emulsion, a suspension of solids, or a suspension of smaller microcapsules. The microcapsule even may have multiple walls.

IUPAC definition

Microcapsule: Hollow microparticle composed of a solid shell surrounding a
core-forming space available to permanently or temporarily entrapped substances.

Note: The substances can be flavour compounds, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, dyes, or similar materials.

Reasons for encapsulation

The reasons for microencapsulation are numerous. It is mainly used to increase the stability and life of the product being encapsulated, facilitate the manipulation of the product and provide for the controlled release of the contents.

extraction process. In environmental science, a pesticide may be microencapsulated to minimize leaching or volatilization risks.[9] Even microencapsulated self-healing agent has proven applications in designing of self-healing polymer coatings. [10][11]

Techniques of microcapsule manufacture

Physicochemical methods

Ionotropic gelation

Ionotropic gelation occurs when units of

alginate
, crosslink with multivalent cations. These may include, calcium, zinc, iron and aluminium.

Coacervation-phase separation

Coacervation-phase separation consists of three steps carried out under continuous agitation.

  1. Formation of three immiscible chemical phases: liquid manufacturing vehicle phase, core material phase and coating material phase.
  2. Deposition of coating: core material is dispersed in the coating polymer solution. Coating polymer material coated around core. Deposition of liquid polymer coating around core by polymer adsorbed at the interface formed between core material and vehicle phase.
  3. Rigidization of coating: coating material is immiscible in vehicle phase and is made rigid. This is done by thermal, cross-linking, or dissolution techniques.

Chemical methods

Interfacial polycondensation

In interfacial polycondensation, the two reactants in a

acid chloride and a compound containing an active hydrogen atom, such as an amine or alcohol, polyesters, polyurea, polyurethane. Under the right conditions, thin flexible walls form rapidly at the interface. A solution of the pesticide and a diacid chloride are emulsified in water and an aqueous solution containing an amine and a polyfunctional isocyanate
is added. Base is present to neutralize the acid formed during the reaction. Condensed polymer walls form instantaneously at the interface of the emulsion droplets.

Interfacial cross-linking

Interfacial cross-linking is derived from interfacial polycondensation, and was developed to avoid the use of toxic diamines, for pharmaceutical or cosmetic applications. In this method, the small bifunctional monomer containing active hydrogen atoms is replaced by a biosourced polymer, like a protein. When the reaction is performed at the interface of an emulsion, the acid chloride reacts with the various functional groups of the protein, leading to the formation of a membrane. The method is very versatile, and the properties of the microcapsules (size, porosity, degradability, mechanical resistance) can be customized. Flow of artificial microcapsules in microfluidic channels:

In situ polymerization

In a few microencapsulation processes, the direct polymerization of a single

biodegradable
, and the presence of the protein backbone renders the membrane more resistant and elastic than those obtained by interfacial polycondensation.

Matrix polymerization

In a number of processes, a core material is imbedded in a polymeric matrix during formation of the particles. A simple method of this type is spray-drying, in which the particle is formed by evaporation of the solvent from the matrix material. However, the solidification of the matrix also can be caused by a chemical change.

Release methods and patterns

Even when the aim of a microencapsulation application is the isolation of the core from its surrounding, the wall must be ruptured at the time of use. Many walls are ruptured easily by pressure or

enteric drug coating.[12] In other systems, the wall is broken by solvent action, enzyme attack, chemical reaction, hydrolysis
, or slow disintegration.

Microencapsulation can be used to slow the release of a drug into the body. This may permit one controlled release dose to substitute for several doses of non-encapsulated drug and also may decrease toxic side effects for some drugs by preventing high initial concentrations in the blood. There is usually a certain desired release pattern. In some cases, it is zero-order, i.e. the release rate is constant. In this case, the microcapsules deliver a fixed amount of drug per minute or hour during the period of their effectiveness. This can occur as long as a solid reservoir or dissolving drug is maintained in the microcapsule.

A more typical release pattern is first-order in which the rate decreases exponentially with time until the drug source is exhausted. In this situation, a fixed amount of drug is in solution inside the microcapsule. The concentration difference between the inside and the outside of the capsule decreases continually as the drug diffuses.

Nevertheless, there are some other mechanisms that may take place in the liberation of the encapsulated material. These include, biodegradation, osmotic pressure, diffusion, etc. Each one will depend on the composition of the capsule made and the environment it is in. Therefore, the liberation of the material may be affected by various mechanisms that act simultaneously.[13]

Applications

The applications of micro-encapsulation are numerous. The ones mentioned below are some of the most common ones.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-83881-870-8
    .
  2. ^ "Microencapsulation - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics". www.sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  3. S2CID 42045080
    .
  4. PMID 21589795
    .
  5. S2CID 237925118
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1-4684-0739-6
    , retrieved 2022-02-28
  7. ^ "What is Microencapsulation?". Velobiotics. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  8. PMID 21589795
    .
  9. S2CID 138347374
    .
  10. ^ Ashok B. Chaudhari, Pyus D. Tatiya, Rahul K. Hedaoo, Ravindra D. Kulkarni, and Vikas V. Gite, Polyurethane Prepared from Neem Oil Polyesteramides for Self-Healing Anticorrosive Coatings, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2013, 52, 10189−10197
  11. ^ PD Tatiya, RK Hedaoo, PP Mahulikar, VV Gite, Novel Polyurea Microcapsules Using Dendritic Functional Monomer: Synthesis, Characterization and Its Use in Self-Healing and Anticorrosive Polyurethane Coatings, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 52 (4), 1562-1570
  12. ^ "Medical Dictionary: Enteric coating". Freedictionary.com. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  13. PMID 19022380
    .
  14. S2CID 94019457
    .
  15. PMID 24568212
    .
  16. PMID 25650567
    .
  17. PMID 26213018
    .

Bibliography

External links
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