Friends,
I have gone through ample literature only to get confused in selecting a good wall material for nanoencapsulation. We all know that lutein is highly hydrophobic but most of the food grade wall materials are hydrophyllic.
Most literature suggest that you dissolve lutein in some amount of hexane then dissolve it in edible oils preferably sunflower oil. Now add this mixture into the wall material solution and go for spray drying.
Is the generalized above procedure correct? What difficulties I may face and also what wall material I should choose. My intended application is in poultry feed.
Is there any wall (food grade) which is soluble in both water and solvent or fats/oils?
The procedure is OK. You can also give a try to coconut oil. The monoolein, a food grade lipid will also be a good choice. The amphiphilic lipids, usually monoglycerides derivatives of common food grade lipids/fatty acids are also a good bait. There are a lot of synthetic amphiphilic lipids available, all you need to do is to check their biocompatibility. Nearly all lipids are biodegradable but that's not meant that they are also biocompatible.
A comment and a question.
First the comment. With the spray drying technique it is almost impossible to obtain nanoparticles. The particle produced are usually much larger.
Now the question. Why do you need nanoparticles ? Is it just a question of scientific fashion ?
You also need to specify the sizes/ average size of NPs you are looking for or is it really a fashion/fiction question? Thanks.
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