Quinoa starch microspheres for drug delivery: preparation and their characteristics

Quinoa starch microparticles (QSMs) fabricated with unhydrolyzed quinoa starch (QS) by inverse microemulsion technology could be used as medicine delivery and cosmetic accessories. The size distribution of QSMs was uniform at 28.5 mu M, and the adsorption capacity of methylene blue was 0.82 mg/ g. The optimum preparation process was as follows: a QS mass fraction of 9%, an epoxy chloropropane content of 1%, an amount of oil phase of 100 mL, a span 80 of 3 mg/mL, and a stirring speed of 400 r/min for 3 h at room temperature and pressure. The QSMs were spherical, ellipsoidal in shape with the specific surface area of 1.676 m2/g. The crystallinity of the QSMs increased from 1.24% to 16.8% after crosslinking. The maximum thermal degradation temperature of the QSMs rose slightly than QS. It will be a promising material for application as a drug carrier and in cosmetics.