EVALUATION OF VITAMIN A ENCAPSULATION IN LIPID NANOPARTICLES

M.S. Liberato^a, C.M. Santana^a, M. Fernandez^a, P. Zelenovskii^b, L. Mafra^c

^aCroda do Brazil, Campinas, Brazil

^bDepartment of Physics and CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

^cDepartment of Chemistry and CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

([email protected], www.croda.com)

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are prone to degradation when exposed to external factors such as temperature, pH, light, and oxidation, which can diminish their bioactive properties. This is particularly crucial in cosmetics, where APIs frequently encounter air, UV light, and high temperatures. Encapsulating APIs within lipid nanoparticles (LNs) offers a promising approach for safe and effective delivery to skin targets.¹ Accurately quantifying encapsulation efficiency is therefore essential for the development of new, stable products. However, achieving reliable measurements is challenging, as APIs may be unevenly distributed within the LNs, complicating interpretation of results.²

In this study, we combined confocal Raman microscopy and NMR spectroscopy to analyze retinol-loaded LNs. Raman microscopy enabled us to investigate the LNs' internal structure and pinpoint the precise localization of retinol. Complementarily, NMR spectroscopy provided insights into retinol’s oxidation state and served as a critical tool for evaluating encapsulation efficiency.

Keywords: Retinol, Lipid Nanoparticles, Encapsulation, NMR, Raman.

Acknowledgements: This work was developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020 (DOI 10.54499/UIDB/50011/2020), UIDP/50011/2020 (DOI 10.54499/UIDP/50011/2020), and LA/P/0006/2020 (DOI 10.54499/LA/P/0006/2020) financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC (PIDDAC). The NMR spectrometers are part of the National NMR Network (PTNMR) and are partially supported by the Infrastructure Project 022161 (cofinanced by FEDER through COMPETE 2020, POCI and PORL and FCT through PIDDAC).

References:

1. F. Casanova and L. Santos. J. Microencapsulation 2015, 33 (1), 1−17.
2. E. Wolska and M. Brach. Pharmaceutics 2022, 14 (2), 335.