Microencapsulation of essential oil of Citrus sinensis (L) Osbeck by simple coacervation method

Abstract

Dengue, a major public health problem in the world, is transmitted by  Aedes aegypti. The chemical control, mainly organophosphates, is one of the most effective. However, the resistance shows up as a major problem. A viable alternative vector control would be the use of monoterpenes or their complex mixtures (essential oils). Limonene, the main constituent of essential oil of Citrus sinensis, has strong larvicidal activity against larvae of Aedes aegypti. Therefore, the use of oil in the larvicidal control of Aedes aegypti proved to be adequate. However, the low stability of essential oil (volatility, oxidation of the constituents, among others), use direct disadvantage and needs to be microencapsulation. In this sense microcapsules were prepared by simple coacervation and characterized by FTIR. Chitosan was used as a polymer forming wall showed a degree of deacetylation of 87.31%, the yield of the process of formation of microcapsules was 82.81% and the encapsulation efficiency of the essential oil was 31.16%. With the spectroscopic characterization was possible to observe the cross-linking of chitosan by glutaraldehyde (formation of imine grouping - 1656 cm-1).