Environmentally-friendly preparation of chitosan microspheres and encapsulation studies of cinnamaldehyde: towards convenient sustained release system for cinnamaldehyde

Chitosan, a biodegradable and biocompatible polysaccharide, is a biopolymer with high potential for biomedical applications. In the scope of this study, chitosan microcapsules were prepared via a green method, without using any surfactants or crosslinkers. Cinnamaldehyde encapsulated microspheres were obtained by the same method and characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, XRD spectroscopy, and SEM. The release study of encapsulated cinnamaldehyde was carried out in a pH 7.4 phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 37 °C. The amount of cinnamaldehyde released was analyzed using UV-Vis spectroscopy and GC/MS-MS. Accordingly, it was found that 350 mg of cinnamaldehyde was encapsulated per gram of chitosan, and the maximum amount of cinnamaldehyde released into the PBS medium was about 8 ppm. In addition, the release was seen to continue when the buffer was renewed. It is thought that the obtained cinnamaldehyde encapsulated chitosan microspheres could be used as a sustained release system. (author)