Nanoparticles from supercritical extraction of emulsions. Fundamentals and modelling.

MARÍA JOSÉ COCERO; ÁNGEL MARTÍN; FACUNDO MATTEA

Madeiras

Workshop; Workshop on Supercritical Fluid Processing of Biopolymers and Biomedical Materials; 2009

The production of pharmaceuticals and food particles in the nanometer size presents clear advantages as the enhanced dissolution rates and the increased suspension stability and solubility. The formulation of these compounds by encapsulation protects them against oxidation. Such formulations are suitable for use as controlled delivery systems. Supercritical fluids precipitation processes are characterized by very fast nucleation rates and slow particle growth, and for this reason they are well known as micronization processes. In the last 30 years several precipitation processes based on supercritical fluids including RESS, SAS, PGSS etc., have been applied to micronization of many pharmaceuticals and food compounds. These processes often are not able to produce particles below the micrometer range or the products obtained present agglomeration problems ending in large agglomerates of nanoparticles. The emulsion formulations have been a traditional way to deliver poorly water-soluble active compounds and to produce suspensions of nanoparticles in water. Emulsion techniques usually involve large quantities of organic solvents, and the removal of them involves additional separation techniques and the use of high temperatures. The application of supercritical fluids in the particle technology with emulsions appears as a natural decision to avoid the main problems of each separated technology.