Fabrication of vitamin E-enriched nanoemulsions: factors affecting particle size using spontaneous emulsification

Oil-in-water nanoemulsions are finding increasing use as delivery systems to encapsulate lipophilic bioactive components in functional food, personal care, and pharmaceutical products. We have investigated the influence of system composition and preparation conditions on the particle size of vitamin E acetate (VE)-loaded nanoemulsions prepared by spontaneous emulsification. This method relies on the formation of very fine oil droplets when an oil/surfactant mixture is added to water. The oil-to-emulsion ratio content was kept constant (10 wt.%) while the surfactant-to-emulsion ratio (%SER) was varied (from 2.5 to 10 wt.%). Oil phase composition (vitamin E to medium chain triglyceride ratio) had a major effect on particle size, with the smallest droplets being formed at 8 wt.% VE and 2 wt.% MCT. Surfactant type also had an appreciable impact on particle size, with TWEEN® 80 giving the smallest droplets from a group of food-grade non-ionic surfactants (TWEEN® 20, 40, 60, 80, and 85). Surfactant-to-emulsion ratio also had to be optimized to produce fine droplets, with the smallest droplets being formed at SER=10 wt.%. Particle size could also be reduced by increasing the temperature and stirring speed used when the oil/surfactant mixture was added to water. By optimizing system composition and homogenization conditions we were able to form VE-loaded nanoemulsions with small mean droplet diameters (d<50 nm) and low polydispersity indexes (PDI<0.13). The spontaneous emulsification method therefore has great potential for forming nanoemulsion-based delivery systems for food, personal care, and pharmaceutical applications.