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Green approach in food nanotechnology based on subcritical water: effects of thyme oil and saponin on characteristics of the prepared oil in water nanoemulsions

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Abstract

Thyme oil in water nanomulsion was prepared under subcritical water conditions using water and saponin, as solvent and emulsifier, respectively. Gas chromatography revealed that there were 44 bioactive components in the extracted thyme essential oil which, thymol and carvacrol were two mains of them. Experiments were designed based on central composite design and effects of amounts of saponin and thyme essential oil were evaluated on particle size, polydispersity index (PDI) and zeta potential of the prepared nanoemulsions using response surface methodology. Obtained results revealed that more desirable thyme oil nanoemulsions with minimum particle size (184.51 nm) and PDI (0.514), and maximum zeta potential (− 22.51 mV) were prepared using 0.94 g of saponin and 0.28 mL of thyme essential oil. Furthermore, results indicated that prepared nanoemulsion using obtained optimum production conditions had relatively high antioxidant activity (24%) and high antibacterial and antifungal activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Penicillium digitatum.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Sahand University of Technology for funding the development of an innovative methodology for safety assessment of industrial nanomaterials (Grant No. 30.5592).

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  1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, East Azarbaijan, 51335-1996, Iran

    Omid Ahmadi & Hoda Jafarizadeh-Malmiri

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  1. Omid Ahmadi
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  2. Hoda Jafarizadeh-Malmiri
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Correspondence to Hoda Jafarizadeh-Malmiri.

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Ahmadi, O., Jafarizadeh-Malmiri, H. Green approach in food nanotechnology based on subcritical water: effects of thyme oil and saponin on characteristics of the prepared oil in water nanoemulsions. Food Sci Biotechnol 29, 783–792 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-019-00727-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-019-00727-0

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