Effects of Microfluidization on Stability, Functional and Antimicrobial Properties of Soy Lecithin - Clove Essential Oil Based Nanoemulsion

In current study, soy lecithin - clove oil based nanoemulsion were developed using microfluidization approach. The particle size, zeta potential (stability), colour properties, functional groups (FTIR), antioxidant activity (DPPH) and encapsulation efficiency of nanoemulsion were investigated. In addition, the antibacterial and antifungal activity of nanoemulsion against gram positive, gram negative and fungal strains were investigated. The results revealed that, the increasing concentration of clove oils influenced the higher particle size and lower stability in nanoemulsion, whereas, in contrast application of microfluidization showed opposite results. The lowest particle size was found in NE1 (247.5 nm), which is pure soy lecithin but the 75%:25% (v/v) composition (NE2) and 50:50% (v/v) composition of soy lecithin-clove oil showed lower particle size as 254.1 nm and NE3 (273.1 nm) with -33.3 mV and -40.5 mV zeta potential values. The applications of microfluidization improved the flow of behaviour and molecular interaction in the nanoemulsion. The microfludized nanoemulsion showed higher antioxidant and encapsulation efficiency as compared to non-microfludized nanoemulsion. NE5 showed higher antioxidant activity followed by NE4 (93.83%) and NE3 (92.22%) with 97.42 and 95.75% of encapsulation efficiency, respectively. The microfludized soy lecithin-clove oil nanoemulsion exhibited good antimicrobial activities against gram positive, gram negative and fungal strains.