4.6 Article

Environmentally Friendly Method of Assembly of Cardanol and Cholesterol into Nanostructures Using a Continuous Flow Microfluidic Device

Journal

ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
Volume 10, Issue 26, Pages 8484-8494

Publisher

AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c015548484

Keywords

hydrodynamic focusing approach; microfluidics; microreactors; green nanovesicles; cardanol-and cholesterol-based nanovesicles; natural lipid waste; cryo-electron microscopy

Funding

  1. Italian Ministry of Economic Development [F/180003/01-03/X43]
  2. (Intelligent Factory, Agrifood and Life Sciences)

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This study demonstrates a microfluidic method for assembling cardanol and cholesterol into nanostructures, and highlights the significant role of cholesterol in this process.
This study shows a viable and straightforward microfluidic method of assembly of cardanol (CA) and cholesterol (CH) into amphiphile nanostructures obtained through a hydrodynamic focusing approach according to which an alcoholic solution of CA and CH is constrained within a two-dimensional lamina shape by two lateral streams of borate buffer solution. The process is performed within glass-made cross-shaped micro sized fluidic chips specially designed to achieve a laminar regime. CA, distilled from the cashew nut shell liquid, is demonstrated as a surface-active molecule in borate buffer basic medium and when mixed with CH it produces versatile nanovesicles through an in-batch solvent-free process. Compared to this conventional method, the microfluidic route allows operating under continuous flows, with a reduced amount of reagents and at lower experimental temperatures, ensuring no waste formation and the achievement of size-monodisperse amphiphile nanostructures that do not need further steps of purification. Electron microscopy analyses demonstrate that upon increasing CH in the lipid mixture, a switchover from spherical CA micelles to CA/CH mixed closed vesicles occurs. Differential scanning microcalorimetry confirms the formation of vesicular structures and evidences the primary role of CH, which increasingly lowers the temperature of transition depending on its concentration.

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