The O/W nanoemulsions droplets loaded with baicalein had mean droplet diameter of nearly 300 nm, and were physically

stable during 30 days of storage in dark at 4 °C. During the release test, up to 84% of initial baicalein could be retained in the fresh O/W emulsions, but the baicalein content reduced up to 49%, upon 1-month storage under refrigeration. Khalid et al. [8] evaluated the encapsulation of considerably high levels of l-ascorbic acid into water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions. For this purpose, up to 30% (w/v) of l-ascorbic acid were dissolved in the dispersed aqueous phase, selleck chemical before emulsification using a rotor-stator homogenizer. The prepared W/O emulsions under these operating conditions had average droplet diameter of around 2.0–3.0 μm and coefficients of variation between 13% and 22%. All the W/O emulsions were stable for more than 30 days at 4 °C or 25 °C with slight increase in average droplet diameter and without phase separation. Their l-ascorbic acid retentions were 50% (w/w) at 4 °C and 30% (w/v) at 25 °C after 30 days AG-014699 in vitro of storage. The

resulting W/O emulsions had an l-ascorbic acid retention ratio that fitted well a first-order kinetics model. A novel strategy for improving the stability and controlled release of hydrophilic bioactives is the two-step process for producing double (W/O/W) emulsion, represented schematically in Figure 1, whereas in the first step an W/O emulsion is prepared, for example, using rotor-stator homogenizer, and immediately after an W/O/W emulsion is prepared, for example, by microchannel emulsification, or rotor-stator homogenizer. Our research group has optimized this

process to encapsulate high concentrations of l-ascorbic acid into double (W/O/W) emulsions, resulting in W/O/W emulsions containing up to 30% (w/v) l-ascorbic acid with an average W/O droplet diameter between 14 and 18 μm, and coefficients of variation of 18–25% [9]. Envisaging the prolonged shelf-life LY294002 of fresh agricultural products, with minimum degradation of their nutritional quality post-processing, edible films and coatings have increasingly received a great deal of attention in recent years, considering their advantages over synthetic films [10]. Such edible films may include polysaccharides such as cellulose or starch derivatives, pectin or chitosan, which has considerable film-forming capacity, biodegradability, and antimicrobial activity, aside from being successfully used to form semi-permeable coatings leading to delay in ripening and decreases on transpiration rates of fruits and vegetables 11, 12, 13 and 14. On this regard, Hashemi et al. [15] have investigated the properties of nanocomposite films formed combining chitosan and nanoclay at different ratios, aiming to enhance the vapor barrier and mechanical properties of the nanocomposite films formed, foreseeing their potential application into smart food packaging systems.