Preparation of terpolymer capsules containing Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil and evaluation of its antifungal activity

The essential oil from Rosmarinus officinalis presents antifungal activity and is used in industry as a natural preserving agent. However, essential oils are unstable compounds. So, the encapsulation of essential oils is a technique used to protect it, minimizing degradation and reducing undesired interaction with the other formulation components. Thus, this work focuses on the synthesis of terpolymeric capsules containing essential oil from Rosmarinus officinalis, aiming to use it as an antifungal component in cosmetics. The capsules were obtained via terpolymerization of methyl methacrylate, styrene and methacrylic acid in a dispersed phase polymerization process. The properties of the polymers and the fungicide activity were evaluated. The studied essential oil presented a Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) ranging from 2.25 to 4.5 mg mL(−1) and a Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) from 4.5 to 9.0 mg mL(−1) for strains of Candida albicans, Candida glabrata and Candida parapsilosis, and after the encapsulation process, the antifungal activity of the oil was maintained. Additionally, cytotoxicity assays against fibroblast cell lines and human keratinocytes showed that the polymeric nanocapsules containing Rosmarinus officinalis essential oil can be regarded as a very promising material intended for cosmetics and drug delivery applications.