Characteristics of ethylcellulose microcapsules of sulfisoxazole

Recent progress in preparation and agricultural application of microcapsules

Recent advances in life science technology have prompted the need to develop microcapsule delivery systems that can encapsulate many different functional or active materials such as drugs, peptides, and live cells, etc. The encapsulation technology is now commonly used in medicine, agriculture, food, and other many fields. The application of biodegradable microcapsule systems can not only effectively prevent the degradation of core materials in the body or the biological environment, but also improve the bioavailability, control the release and prolong the halftime or storage of core active materials. Various wall materials, preparation methods, encapsulation processes, and release mechanisms are covered in this review, as well as several main factors including pH values, temperatures, particle sizes, and additives, which can strongly influence the encapsulation efficiency, the strength, and release of microcapsules. The improvement of coating materials, preparation techniques, and challenges are also highlighted, as well as application prospects.

Studies on the properties of ethylcellulose microcapsules prepared by emulsion non-solvent addition method in the presence of non-solvent in polymer solution

Ethylcellulose microcapsules containing theophylline were prepared by the O/W emulsion non-solvent addition method. Toluene-cyclohexane was chosen as a solvent-non-solvent pair. The effect of the non-solvent added to the polymer solution on the properties of microcapsules was investigated. The results indicated that the size distribution and drug content of microcapsules were slightly affected by the amount of non-solvent in polymer solution. However, the internal conformation of microcapsules was directly related to the amount of non-solvent added to the polymer solution. The greater the non-solvent to solvent ratio in polymer solution the larger the percentage of microcapsules having a hollow conformation. Dissolution studies showed that the release rate of theophylline from microcapsules increased with increasing amount of non-solvent added to the polymer solution, but the release pattern of microcapsules was not obviously changed.