Microcapsules polymeric shell

There may be a drug-loaded core surrounded by a polymeric shell (microcapsule). 

Aliphatic or aromatic structure, as weU as liner or branched structure of the reactants, can give the microcapsule shell different porosity and permeability, which can greatly inflnence the release performances. Multifunctional reactants can help to achieve more thermal mechanical stable microcapsules since the wall is a three-dimensional cross-linked polymer network. Experiments have shown that dichlorides with less than eight carbon atoms do not prodnce qnahty polyamide microcapsules. The reason behind this is the competition between interfacial condensation and the hydrolysis reaction of dichlorides. More hydrophobic dichlorides can favor the polymerization and slow the hydrolysis. Similarly, for polyurethane and polyurea type microcapsules, polymeric isocy-nates are preferred because they might favor the formation of less permeable miCTocapsnles for the hydrolysis of isocynate groups are limited, which consequently reduced the COj release that contribute to the porosity increase of the polymer wall." ... 

Microcapsule structure with a paraffinic PCM core and a polymeric shell (Nelson, 2001). 

It is also possible to generate microcapsules through interfacial polymerization using only one monomer to form the shell. In this class of encapsulations, polymerization must be performed with a surface-active catalyst, a temperature increase, or some other surface chemistry. Herbert Scher of Zeneca Ag Products (formerly Stauffer Chemical Company) developed an excellent example of the latter class of shell formation (Scher 1981 Scher et al. 1998). He used monomers featuring isocyanate groups, like poly(methylene)-poly(phenylisocyanate) (PMPPI), where the isocyanate reacts with water to reveal a free primary amine. Dissolved in the oil-dispersed phase of an oil-in-water emulsion, this monomer contacts water only at the phase boundary. The primary amine can then react with isocyanates to form a polyurea shell. Scher used this technique to encapsulate pesticides, which in their free state would be too volatile or toxic, and to control the rate of pesticide release. 

A new variation of interfacial polymerization was developed by Russell and Emrick in which functionalized nanoparticles or premade oligomers self-assemble at the interface of droplets, stabilizing them against coalescence. The functional groups are then crosslinked, forming permanent capsule shells around the droplets to make water-in-oil (Lin et al. 2003 Skaff et al. 2005) and oil-in-water (Breitenkamp and Emrick 2003 Glogowski et al. 2007) microcapsules with elastic membranes. 

Our research group has developed a multicatalyst system around an encapsulated amine catalyst (Kobaslija and McQuade 2006) that promotes nitroaUcene synthesis. Like the Royer catalysts, these microcapsules are based on a PEI shell. Unlike that system, however, templating is accomplished with a methanol in cyclohexane ( oil-in-oil ) emulsion in an interfacial polymerization, with the PEI cross-linked... 

On the other hand, the interest towards this field is accounted for by the possibility to create polymeric systems, combining the unique properties of low-molecular liquid crystals and high molecular compounds, making it feasible to produce films, fibers and coatings with extraordinary features. It is well-known that the utilization of low-molecular thermotropic liquid crystals requirs special hermetic protective shells (electrooptical cells, microcapsules etc.), which maintain their shape and protect LC compounds from external influences. In the case of thermotropic LC polymers there is no need for such sandwich-like constructions, because the properties of low-molecular liquid crystals and of polymeric body are combined in a single individual material. This reveals essentially new perspectives for their application. 

The amine-based Henry reaction catalyst was encapsulated via the interfacial polymerization of oil-in-oil emulsions. PEI was encapsulated by dispersing a methanolic PEI solution into a continuous cyclohexane phase. Upon emulsification, 2,4-tolylene diisocyanate (TDI) was added to initiate crosslinking at the emulsion interface, forming polyurea shells that contain free chains of PEI. The microcapsules crenate when dry and swell when placed in solvents such as methanol and dimethylformamide, suggesting a hollow capsule rather than a solid sphere formation. The catalyst loading was determined to be 1.6 mmol g . ... 

Using the so-called two-step process [15, 16], polymer nanoparticles are first synthesized via emulsion polymerization. The size of the resulting nanoparticles can be tuned by a simple process parameter and covers a range of about 30-400 nm. In a second step these nanoparticles are used to coat microbubbles in a controlled bubble formation process. The nanoparticles migrate to the surface of the bubbles (this is related to the interface activity of hydrophobic nanoparticles in general) and build a monolayer around the bubbles. Consequently, the size of the nanoparticles determines the shell thickness of the final microcapsules. Additionally, a carefully chosen nanoparticle concentration regime results in a certain microcapsule size distribution. In principle, particle sizes in the range of 0.5-10 jum can be adjusted and the microcapsule size distributions are ex-... 

Encapsulation is a formulation technique in which an active compound can be enclosed inside a second material, such as polymeric or nonpolymeric carrier. The product obtained by this process is referred to as microcapsules. These microcapsules are obtainable in two types of morphology— either matrix type or core-shell (Figure 11.8). Matrix-type microcapsules are in which the API is homogeneously distributed within the carrier system. In contrast, core-shell microcapsules consist of a solid shell made up of polymeric materials surrounding a core-forming space, which entraps the API. 

Lai, W Li, X. Feng, H. Fu, G. Photo-polymerization property of the photosensitive core-shell strue-tured microcapsule material. Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology (2008), 21(6), 761-765. 

Lee etal. have synthesized microcapsules containing conducting PANI core by polymerizing melamine resin. It is found that the melamine resin plays the role of an insulator shell for the PANI core and causes the electric conductivity of the core PANI particles to decrease. These PANI-encapsulated particles show typical ER effect, which is depending on the melamine resin content [87]. 

One may list a large number of surface chemical phenomena that are crucial in the preparation of more complex systems such as multiple emulsions and microcapsules. In the first case, the formulation is a complex system of an emulsion in an emulsion , with the most common being a water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) multiple emulsion, which requires the preparation of a stable W/O emulsion that is further emulsified into an aqueous solution of another surfactant to produce the final system. Microencapsulation is a process whereby the active ingredient is surrounded by a polymer shell that allows the controlled and slow release of the active. The most common procedure for encapsulation is interfacial polymerization, whereby two monomers are allowed to react at the interface (by condensation) to produce the... 

Organic spheres are predominantly polymeric, consisting of synthetic or natural polymers. The field of polymeric nano- and microparticles is vast, comprising, for instance, latex particles for coatings, hollow particles for syntactic foams, and microcapsules for foaming and additive release. In addition, there are core-shell microbeads and coated polymeric particles, where the particles can exhibit multiple functionalities, thanks to the individual features of their different layers 1]. As fillers in thermosets and thermoplastics, hollow microspheres and expandable microcapsules are among the most frequently used in commercial applications. 

Other encapsulations utilize more or less similar methods for the formation of the capsule wall. Complex coacervation utilizes the reaction of an anionic water-soluble polymer with a cationic material to form the shell wall that separates from the solution. As the coacervate separates from the solution, it will tend to coat suspended particles with a protective shell. The shell wall is then hardened with a cross-linking agent. In situ polymerization is used to form urea formaldehyde or melamine formaldehyde shells by using heat to cross-link the monomers forming the shell waU. Interfacial polymerization with isocyanates via hydrolysis is another method to form a shell wall at an organic-water interface. In this case, water acts to hydrolyze some of the polyisocyanate to an amine, which cross-links to form the polyurea microcapsule waU. 

In-situ processes such as emulsion, suspension, precipitation or dispersion polymerization and interfacial polycondensations are the most important chemical techniques used for microencapsulation [85-90]. An image of microcapsules with an aqueous core and silicone shell prepared using in-situ polymerization is shown in Figure 1.10. 

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