ABSTRACT
Natural polymer based encapsulation of essential oil (EO) is one of the emerging and challenging area of research in perfumery, cosmetics, flavoring agents, preservatives, therapeutics, etc. The knowledge of formulation techniques and physico-chemical properties of the polymers are the basic requirements for the successful encapsulations of essential oils (EOs). This current review article is focused on a comparative account of various formulation techniques based on their applicability. For the first time, it also reviews various physico-chemical techniques used in the analysis of EO encapsulates to determine their stability, structure, surface morphology, and encapsulation efficiency. Further, the mechanisms involved in the release of EOs from encapsulates, along with various factors affecting their release, have also been discussed.
Acknowledgments
The authors regret not being able to include some references due to the limited scope of the paper. The authors thank Dr. Neetu Purohit, Centre for Comparative Literature, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab (India), for typographic error and linguistic proof reading, and Dr. Sanjeev Thakur, Centre for Plant Sciences, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, for technical and scientific proof reading.
Funding
This research was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board, New Delhi, India (SR/FT/LS-66/2011), grant awarded to Sunil Mittal. Gajendra Singh Vishwakarma also acknowledges SERB for providing fellowship to conduct the research.