ENGINEERED CHITOSAN NANOPARTICLES FOR ENCAPSULATION OF THYMOL

This study successfully obtained chitosan thymol nanoparticles using an electrohydrodynamic technique, which is a simple one-step procedure. The morphological and physical characterization, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity assessments of electrosprayed thymol-loaded chitosan nanoparticles (CTNPs) were carried out. The ABTS assay and the agar well diffusion test were used to determine the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the CTNP samples, respectively. The results showed that CTNPs possessed efficient antimicrobial capacity against B. cereus, S. aureus, E. coli, and S. typhimurium. CTNPs indicated a radical scavenging activity of 90% regarding the ABTS assay. CTNPs with biological activities could be an effective alternative for practical food safety and health applications. In this study, the use of electrohydrodynamic atomization technique to produce biopolymer nanoparticles present a novel approach for encapsulating thymol-like volatile active agents.