@article {Michelon2019Jun, title = {Single-step microfluidic production of W/O/W double emulsions as templates for β-carotene-loaded giant liposomes formation}, journal = {Chemical Engineering Journal}, volume = {366}, year = {2019}, month = {Jun}, pages = {27{\textendash}32}, publisher = {Elsevier}, abstract = { We demonstrated the microfluidic production of W/O/W double emulsion droplets aiming formation of β-carotene-incorporated giant liposomes for food and/or pharmaceutical applications. For this purpose, glass-capillary microfluidic devices were fabricated to create a truly three-dimensional flow aiming production of giant unilamellar liposomes by solvent evaporation process after W/O/W double emulsion droplet templates formation. A great challenge of microfluidic production of monodisperse and stable W/O/W double emulsion templates for this proposal is the replacement of organic solvents potentially toxic for phospholipids dissolution. Besides, the high cost of several semi-synthetic phospholipids commonly used for giant liposome formation remains as a major technological challenge to be overcome. Thus, β-carotene-incorporated giant liposomes were generated using biocompatible solvents with low toxic potential (ethyl acetate and pentane) and non-purified soybean lecithin - a food-grade phospholipid mixture with low cost - by dewetting and evaporation of the solvents forming the oily intermediate phase of W/O/W double emulsion droplet templates. Our results showed monodisperse β-carotene-loaded giant liposomes with diameter ranging between 100 μm and 180 μm and a stability of approximately 7 days. In this way, a single-step microfluidic process with highly accurate control of size distribution was developed. This microfluidic process proposed is potentially useful for a broad range of applications in protection and delivery of active compounds. }, issn = {1385-8947}, doi = {10.1016/j.cej.2019.02.021}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1385894719302384}, author = {Michelon, Mariano and Huang, Yuting and de la Torre, Lucimara Gaziola and Weitz, DavidA. and Cunha, Rosiane Lopes} }