Influence of soy protein's structural modifications on their microencapsulation properties: α-Tocopherol microparticle preparation

► Soy protein was an original biopolymer for a-tocopherol microencapsulation. ► SPI hydrolysis resulted in decrease of oil retention efficiency from 80 to 39%. ► Protein N-acylation increased its affinity with hydrophobic core material. ► N-acylation of SPI improved the efficiency of a-tocopherol retention up to 95%. ► SPI based microparticles can be loaded with hydrophobic core material up to 70%.