Preparation and characterization of natural extracts-loaded food grade nanoliposomes

Abstract

The development of food grade liposomes encapsulating citrus extract (CE) and essential oils (EOs) mixture respectively − was carried out by optimising sonication process and liposome composition and by characterizing the interactions between bioactive compounds and liposomes by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). Results showed that the use of deoiled lecithin at 1.5% and 10 min-treatment at 70% of full power allowed the formation of more stable nanoliposomes with high EE. Based on ITC analysis, liposome had more affinity to encapsulate CE than EOs. FTIR demonstrated low effects of bioactive loading on the molecular structure of liposomes. The chemical interactions especially involved ethyl, methyl, P–O–C and PO2 - groups. The present system is environmental-friendly with respect to a potential food grade assessment and could be very suitable for food applications.