Continuous flow in situ shear stress induced encapsulation of curcumin within spheroidal bovine serum albumin-based nanoparticles

Nanospheres comprised of bovine serum albumin (BSA) crosslinked with glutaraldehyde possessing different pore sizes are accessible under continuous flow conditions using a vortex fluidic device (VFD) with a rapidly rotating tube tilt angle θ of −45° which overcomes an otherwise build-up of material occurring at θ +45°. The build-up can also be overcome at +45° under continuous flow using ethanol dehydrating conditions at 80°C without the need for crosslinking using glutaraldehyde. As-prepared BSA nanoparticles (BNPs) of ca. 531 nm in diameter were formed at 5k rpm in a single-step process. Similar rapid processing in the presence of curcumin affords composite BNPs@curcumin particles ca. 615 nm in diameter.