Assessment of formulation parameters needed for successful vitamin C entrapped polycaprolactone nanoparticles

ABSTRACT

Vitamin C (Vit.C)-entrapped polycaprolactone (PCL) nanoparticles (Vit.C–PCNs) were prepared by encapsulation of Vit.C into PCL-based nanoparticles (PCNs) which were prepared using double emulsion method with two steps. First, the inner aqueous phase (W₁) was added to dichloromethane solution containing PCL with homogenization to form primary emulsion (W₁/O) which was emulsified with the outer aqueous phase (W₂) containing polyvinyl alcohol as stabilizer to attain the double emulsion (W₁/O/W₂). Versatile parameters were investigated to reach to the most successful formulation for Vit.C–PCNs, such as time, effect of speed of homogenization on drug encapsulation efficiency, etc.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Biopolymers
• drug carriers
• drug delivery
• encapsulation
• nanoparticles
• polycaprolactone
• vitamin C

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank National Research Center for supporting the current endeavor with Grant Nos. 10050307. Also, the authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Mohamed Ali Hassan for his contribution at the present work.