Development and characterization of electrosprayed microcaspules of poly ε-caprolactone with citronella oil for mosquito-repellent application

PARDINI, FRANCISCO; IREGUI, ÁLVARO; FACCIA, PAULA; AMALVY, JAVIER; GONZÁLEZ, ALBA; IRUSTA, LOURDES

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLYMER ANALYSIS AND CHARACTERIZATION

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Año: 2021 p. 1 - 20

1023-666X

Several life-threatening diseases such as malaria, dengue or zika are trans-mitted by mosquito bites. Although there are several products availablefor personal protection against mosquitoes, the adequate efficacy of nat-ural insect repellents (NIR) or the adverse effects of synthetic ones areproblems that need to be solved. The encapsulation of NIR in low-cost,nontoxic and biodegradable polymers has emerged as a promisingmethod for the development of eco-friendly repellent systems.In this work, the encapsulation of citronella oil (CO) into microcapsules ofpoly (e-caprolactone) (PCL) was made by electrospraying technique toobtain a system that shows a sustained release of the high volatile oil.Characterizations of the capsules were performed by NMR, FTIR, SEM andDSC techniques. CO encapsulation efficiency (EE) and release studies werealso determined by using HPLC technique.Results demonstrated that a 3/1 PCL-CO ratio and 10 kV were the best con-ditions to obtain regular and well-formed microcapsules. Characterizationtechniques showed the presence of CO in the microcapsules with an EEhigher than 80%. Release studies in water solution indicated a sustainedCO liberation for at least forty days. The present study shows the strongpotential of the PCL-CO microcapsules as an effective and sustainedrelease system with potential application in protection against mosquitoes.These microcapsules are not considered microplastics due to their bio-degradable character and therefore their use is not restricted by the different legislations