Simple Strategy Preparing Cyclodextrin Carboxylate as a Highly Effective Carrier for Bioactive Compounds

Many phytochemicals suffer from poor water dispersity and storage stability, which restrict their application within aqueous-based commercial products. beta-Cyclodextrin (beta-CD) is a water-dispersible molecule with a hydrophobic core that can encapsulate and protect non-polar substances. The functional attributes of beta-CD can be further enhanced by chemical modification. In this study, a simple and effective dry-heating process was applied to fabricate succinic acid (SA)-modified beta-CD (SACD) through esterification. SACD showed better encapsulation property than non-modified beta-CD to guest molecules such as methyl orange (up to 1.41-folds of beta-CD) and curcumin (with an encapsulation efficiency of up to 10 mg/g). Meanwhile, higher water solubility (up to 469.30 g per 100 g of H2O) was achieved for SACD, indicating that a high dose of SACD could be applied in an aqueous food matrix. Such a simple strategy exhibiting low cytotoxicity shows great potential incorporating bioactive compounds into functional foods.

Automated summary

In this study, succinic acid-modified beta-Cyclodextrin (SACD) was fabricated using a simple and effective dry-heating process, resulting in enhanced encapsulation property and water solubility. This strategy shows great potential for incorporating bioactive compounds into functional foods.