EVALUATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL AND COSMETIC USE OF EXCIPIENTS OBTAINED FROM CITRUS PROCESSING WASTE PRODUCTS
type: CreativeWork
description: Depletion of natural resources and pollution are pushing society towards the development of models based on sustainability and recycling. In recent years, the use of food industry waste as new materials in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics has attracted increasing interest. In this circular economy perspective, bergamot peel waste is an established source of high-value components such as essential oils, flavonoids, pectin, and ascorbic acid. After the extraction of such phytochemicals, the remaining biomasses can be further used to recover residual lipid traces that have not been investigated so far. This doctoral thesis aimed to investigate whether bergamot lipid components (BLCs) remaining in the bergamot discarded biomass could be a functional excipient for the preparation of dosage forms for pharmaceutical or cosmetic purposes. Keeping in mind this aim, a suitable extraction method was developed and the composition of the obtained BLCs extract was determined by using Gas Chromatography with Mass Selection Detector (GC/MS) and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The raw extract was predominantly composed of long and medium-chain fatty acids with 70 % saturated and 30 % unsaturated acids. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy suggested that the extract appeared to be primarily composed of waxes and, to a lesser extent, free fatty acids. Since waxes are among the most used components—alongside triglycerides—in the preparation of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), the possible application of BLCs as main components of SLNs was investigated. However, SLNs have limitations such as low drug encapsulation efficiency and poor long-term stability, often due to lipid polymorphic transitions. Therefore, in addition to formulating SLNs using only BLCs, the production of nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) by incorporating a liquid lipid, which can prevent the crystallization of primary lipid, was also investigated. The most promising formulations were finally evaluated for delivering solid or liquid drug th…
abstract: Depletion of natural resources and pollution are pushing society towards the development of models based on sustainability and recycling. In recent years, the use of food industry waste as new materials in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics has attracted increasing interest. In this circular economy perspective, bergamot peel waste is an established source of high-value components such as essential oils, flavonoids, pectin, and ascorbic acid. After the extraction of such phytochemicals, the remaining biomasses can be further used to recover residual lipid traces that have not been investigated so far. This doctoral thesis aimed to investigate whether bergamot lipid components (BLCs) remaining in the bergamot discarded biomass could be a functional excipient for the preparation of dosage forms for pharmaceutical or cosmetic purposes. Keeping in mind this aim, a suitable extraction method was developed and the composition of the obtained BLCs extract was determined by using Gas Chromatography with Mass Selection Detector (GC/MS) and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The raw extract was predominantly composed of long and medium-chain fatty acids with 70 % saturated and 30 % unsaturated acids. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy suggested that the extract appeared to be primarily composed of waxes and, to a lesser extent, free fatty acids. Since waxes are among the most used components—alongside triglycerides—in the preparation of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), the possible application of BLCs as main components of SLNs was investigated. However, SLNs have limitations such as low drug encapsulation efficiency and poor long-term stability, often due to lipid polymorphic transitions. Therefore, in addition to formulating SLNs using only BLCs, the production of nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) by incorporating a liquid lipid, which can prevent the crystallization of primary lipid, was also investigated. The most promising formulations were finally evaluated for delivering solid or liquid drug th…
author: VOLONTE', PAOLA
language: eng
keywords: circular economy, transdermal delivery, skin, esophagu, skin penetration enhancer, solid lipid nanoparticle, nanostructured lipid carrier, nanoemulsion, liposome, lipid based nanosystems, Settore CHEM-08/A - Tecnologia, socioeconomia e normativa dei medicinali e dei prodotti per il benessere e per la salute
date published: 2025-05-13
date modified: 2026-07-27T20:19:08Z
provider: Università degli Studi di Milano
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Università degli Studi di Milano

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/1161657