Supersmall Dendritic Mesoporous Silica Nanospheres as Antioxidant Nanocarriers for Pickering Emulsifiers

Encapsulation of flavor and aromatic compounds in emulsions holds great potential for development of novel formulations in food applications. In this paper, supersmall dendritic mesoporous silica nanospheres (DMSNs) were fabricated by the one-pot strategy. The morphologies of DMSNs were directly tuned in terms of diameter from 35 +/- 2 to 85 +/- 4 nm. The obtained DMSNs are nanocarriers for hydrophilic or hydrophobic antioxidants with superior loading performance. Both DMSNs and antioxidant-loaded ones can emulsify the flavor and aromatic compounds yielding stable Pickering emulsions with droplets of approximately 2 mu m in diameter. The emulsions possess excellent physical stability for at least half a year. More importantly, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry (GC-MS-O) analysis shows that antioxidant-loaded DMSNs provide outstanding protective functionalities to the encapsulated flavoring oil. A universality study reveals that DMSNs are an ideal platform for stable Pickering emulsions for aromatic compounds. Our design could provide a new path for flavor and sensitive bioactives for codelivery with excellent stability in food, medicine, cosmetics, etc.

Automated summary

This study fabricated supersmall dendritic mesoporous silica nanospheres (DMSNs) with tunable diameters, serving as nanocarriers for antioxidants and flavoring oils to generate stable emulsions. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry (GC-MS-O) analysis demonstrated that DMSNs have outstanding protective functionalities for the encapsulated flavoring oil. The research indicates that DMSNs are an ideal platform for stable Pickering emulsions for aromatic compounds, offering a new approach for delivering flavor and sensitive bioactives with excellent stability in various applications such as food, medicine, and cosmetics.