Comparison of physicochemical properties and aqueous solubility of xanthone prepared via oil-in-water emulsion and complex coacervation techniques

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to enhance aqueous solubility of xanthone with natural polymers using oil-in-water emulsion and complex coacervation as the microencapsulation techniques. There was no interaction between xanthone and the wall material; and xanthone crystallinity was decreased as observed via fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and x-ray powder diffraction (XRD) after microencapsulation. Oil-in-water emulsion and coacervation increased xanthone solubility by 37-fold and 1.6-fold, respectively. However, O/W emulsion method required a high ratio of oil to xanthone. The solubilizing effect of oil and wall material, particle size reduction, and decreased crystallinity were responsible for enhancing the aqueous solubility of xanthone.

KEYWORDS:

• Xanthone
• Solubility enhancement
• Spray-drying
• Microencapsulation
• Coacervation
• Inulin

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank E-Science research grant of 06-02-10-SF0092 from Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia to support this study. Thank you to School of Science, Monash University Malaysia for additional financial support and SENSUS International (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) for inulin supply.