Preparation and characterization of chitosan nanoparticles as the delivery system for tuberose fragrance

ABSTRACT Chitosan (CS) exhibits non‐toxicity, biocompatibility and antibacterial activity in the pharmaceutical field. Fragrance is obtained by blending a large number of different spices and odorous materials in a specific ratio. However, their main ingredients are labile and volatile. Most volatile fragrances are easily lost during manufacture, storage and use of the perfumes or the perfumed consumer products. In this study, tuberose fragrance (TF) was encapsulated inside CS nanoparticles (TC‐NPs) via the ionic gelification in emulsion system. The influence of reaction conditions, such as weight ratio of CS to tripolyphosphate (TPP) as well as CS and TF concentration, on the properties of nanoparticles (particle size and zeta potential) was investigated in detail. TC‐NPs were characterized with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). TC‐NPs (174 nm) were obtained with the weight ratio of CS/TPP 5:1, 1.5 mg/ml CS and 100% TF. FTIR demonstrated that TF can be functioned with CS via intermolecular forces and hydrogen bonds. TGA displayed that the thermal stability of TC‐NPs was improved compared with that of TF and that TF loading capacity was 29.5%. GC–MS showed that 90% fragrances in TF had been encapsulated into TC‐NPs. GC with flame ionization detector (FID) displayed that the contents of fragrant components released from NPs were much less than that of TF after heating for 30 h. The antimicrobial activities of TC‐NPs were higher than that of TF. TC‐NPs displayed lower cytotoxicity to the cells. It is shown that CS‐NPs is a multifunctional carrier material for fragrance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.