Highly Efficient Encapsulation of Ingredients in Poly(methyl methacrylate) Capsules Using a Superoleophobic Material

Increasing the efficiency of encapsulation of ingredients into spherical capsules can decrease the manufacturing costs of the capsules. Ingredients can be encapsulated with high efficiency (>99%) into nondegradable hard resin capsules prepared by polymerization of spherical droplets of trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TRIM) monomer placed on a superoleophobic material. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) resin is a more versatile capsule material than poly-TRIM resin. In this study, the efficiency of encapsulation in PMMA resin capsules prepared from methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer was investigated. To reduce the volatility of the MMA monomer, pre-polymerized MMA was used for capsule preparation. Although non-volatile α-tocopherol and doxorubicin could be encapsulated in the capsules with high efficiency by heat polymerization at 60°C for 3 h, the efficiency for volatile tetradecane was much lower (approximately 60%) because it evaporated. Furthermore, even when using pre-polymerized MMA, more than 70% of the prepolymer evaporated during polymerization. To prevent the evaporation of tetradecane and the prepolymer, ultraviolet photopolymerization was adopted because it was faster and could be conducted at a lower temperature. The photopolymerization prevented the evaporation of the prepolymer and increased the efficiency of encapsulation of tetradecane (approximately 90% efficiency). This polymerization system is effective for encapsulation of ingredients in PMMA capsules with high efficiency.