Formation of ternary complexes of carboxymethyl cellulose, soy protein isolate and curcumin using dielectric barrier discharge plasma technology for encapsulation of curcumin.

The aim of this study was to assess how the order of compound addition affects the formation of binary and ternary complexes of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), soy protein isolate (SPI), and curcumin (CUR) when using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment. Then, the ternary complex efficiency for the CUR encapsulation was evaluated. First, the binary complexes of SPI-CMC, SPI-CUR, and CMC-CUR were prepared using plasma, and then the third compound was added to form the ternary complex. Free amine and degree of glycation, electrophoretic pattern, FTIR, intrinsic fluorescence, sulfhydryl content, zeta potential, and FE-SEM of mixtures and complexes were evaluated. After CUR encapsulation in SPI(CMC-CUR) complex at different ratios, encapsulation efficiency, loading capacity, morphology, particle size, in vitro release and its mechanism, as well as light and thermal stability of CUR loaded complexes were evaluated. Results indicated that plasma treatment can create complexes; however, it can affect the properties of compounds. The order of compound addition can affect the physicochemical properties of the complexes produced using plasma. The highest encapsulation efficiency was obtained at a ratio of 1:30 (CUR:Complex), and increased the light and thermal stability of CUR. The results showed that the release follows the Ritger-Peppas model.