Enhanced stability of vitamin A palmitate microencapsulated by γ-cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks

Abstract

γ-Cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks (γ-CD-MOFs) are highly porous and bio-friendly novel materials formed by γ-CD as an organic ligand and potassium ion as an inorganic metal centre. The aim of this study was to enhance the stability of vitamin A palmitate (VAP) using γ-CD-MOFs as the carrier. Herein, γ-CD-MOFs displayed VAP microencapsulating capacity of 9.77 ± 0.24% with molar ratio as n_MOFs:n_VAP = 3.2:1.0. It was important to find that the improved stability of VAP microencapsulated by γ-CD-MOFs without addition of any antioxidant(s) was better than that of the best available reference product in the market, with 1.6-fold elongated half-life. The protecting mechanism of γ-CD-MOFs for VAP contributed that VAP molecules preferentially curled inside the cavities of dual γ-CD pairs in γ-CD-MOFs. It was proved that γ-CD-MOFs were an efficient new carrier to deliver and protect VAP for food and pharmaceutical applications.

Keywords:

• γ-Cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks
• vitamin A
• stability
• microencapsulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 81430087), Technology Major Projects for ‘Major New Drugs Innovation and Development’ (no. 2017ZX0901001–006, XDA12050307, and SIMM0120163017) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. 2017M610284).