Fabrication and bacterial inhibitory activity of essential oil linalool loaded biocapsules against Escherichia coli

When liquid essential oils are exposed to the environment in the air, they oxidize easily and lose their therapeutic effect. In this work, linalool biocapsules loaded with essential oil were prepared through ionic gelation method. Also, the effect of adding different concentrations of crosslinker (1.25%, 2.5%, 5% CaCl2) was also studied. The morphology, swelling index, and inhibitory activity were also evaluated. The encapsulation of linalool in the biocapsules was increased by increasing the amount of essential oil from 71.33 to 92.2%. In the PBS medium, the swelling index is about three times higher. The bacterial colony counting, zone of inhibition, and TEM morphological studies revealed that linalool-loaded biocapsules have significant antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli in 2 h. The biocapsules synthesized in this study were promising candidates for long-term storage to reduce environmental bio-contamination with pathogens.

Automated summary

In this study, bio-capsules loaded with essential oil were prepared using the ionic gelation method. The effect of different concentrations of crosslinker on the capsules was investigated. The results showed that increasing the amount of essential oil improved the encapsulation efficiency, and the swelling index of the capsules was higher in PBS medium. The linalool-loaded bio-capsules demonstrated significant antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli within 2 hours, making them promising candidates for long-term storage and reduction of environmental bio-contamination.