Abstract

NATURAL ESSENTIAL OILS FROM EXTRACTION TO ENCAPSULATION

Thakur P.*, Kapila P., Sharma R.B., Agarwal S. and Vashist H.

ABSTRACT

Essential oils are natural products which have many interesting applications. Extraction of essential oils from plants is performed by classical and innovative methods and that are obtained from various parts of the plants such as flowers, leaves, or bark by steam distillation, expression, or extraction, that are usually mixtures of compounds such as aldehydes or esters, and that are used often in the form of essences in perfumes, flavorings and pharmaceutical preparations. Many encapsulation processes have been developed and reported in the literature in order to encapsulate biomolecules, active molecules, nanocrystals, oils and also essential oils for various applications such as in vitro diagnosis, therapy, cosmetic, textile, food etc. Essential oils encapsulation led to various new formulations with new applications. This maintains the protection of the oil and controlled release. The most commonly prepared carriers are polymer particles, liposomes and solid lipid nanoparticles.

Keywords: Essential oils are nanocrystals, solid lipid nanoparticles.