Edinburgh: New route for formulating gel capsules

Licensing opportunity

Colloid scientists at the University of Edinburgh, UK, have invented a new generic route to gel capsule formulation, using particles suspended in fluid-bicontinuous mixture of two solvents.

These capsules can be fine-tuned for different for different applications, such as personal care, foodstuffs, and home care. A key attraction is the internal architecture, which features interpenetrating domains of immiscible fluids, a property known as bicontinuity.

The bijel capsules are made of two fluids, and hence they are both a gel and an emulsion. The water and oil domains inside the capsules can be used to deliver chemically different active ingredients. The capsules can be designed to release or mix the active ingredients in response to a specific external stimulus.

The enables the simultaneous release two different active ingredients and allows the stabilisation of non-equilibrium mixtures without the use of surfactants. Properties such as the release rate can be varied over many orders of magnitude

Applications include room fresheners, additives for shampoos, creams and gels, flavour delivery in food and drinks, and drug delivery.

Patents been applied for in Europe, US, and Japan and the university is looking for commercial partners to license this technology under a non-exclusive licence agreement within specific application areas.