Microencapsulation of dodecyl acetate by complex coacervation of whey protein with acacia gum and its release behavior

Complex coacervation of whey protein (WP) with acacia gum (AG) was carried out in water with the presence of dodecyl acetate (DA), a component of insect sex pheromones, in order to obtain microcapsules with DA as the core material and WP–AG coacervate as the wall materials. Through variations in wall/core ratios, concentrations of the wall materials in capsule preparations, DA encapsulation was optimized, which showed a high DA encapsulation was achieved when coacervation was conducted at pH 3.5 with wall/core mass ratio at 3 combined with concentration of wall materials at 1.0 wt%. Morphology and the structure of DA loaded microcapsules were examined by scanning electron microscope, which showed the microcapsules were of core/shell structure with DA encapsulated in the inner of the microcapsules. DA release was examined and the behavior of the release was discussed.