Polymeric Carriers Designed for Encapsulation of Essential Oils with Biological Activity
Aurica P. Chiriac, Alina Gabriela Rusu, Loredana E. Niţă, Vlad Mihai Chiriac, Iordana Neamţu, Alina Sandu
Abstract
The article reviews the possibilities of encapsulating essential oils EOs, due to their multiple benefits, controlled release, and in order to protect them from environmental conditions. Thus, we present the natural polymers and the synthetic macromolecular chains that are commonly used as networks for embedding EOs, owing to their biodegradability and biocompatibility, interdependent encapsulation methods, and potential applicability of bioactive blend structures. The possibilities of using artificial intelligence to evaluate the bioactivity of EOs-in direct correlation with their chemical constitutions and structures, in order to avoid complex laboratory analyses, to save money and time, and to enhance the final consistency of the products-are also presented.