Wheat starch-based aerogel for cannabidiol encapsulation: Structural analysis and enhanced stability

To improve the stability of cannabidiol (CBD), this work was designed to prepare a new starch-based aerogel with a three-dimensional porous network structure for CBD encapsulation. After the screening, wheat starch aerogel (WSA) was employed to prepare the complex CBD-WSA. The structure, release behavior, bioactivity, and stability of CBD-WSA were studied. After encapsulation, CBD-WSA showed higher relative crystallinity and short-range molecular sequence than WSA. Many porous structures disappeared along with the decrease of pore diameter and specific surface area. Physicochemical characterizations confirmed that CBD was successfully encapsulated in WSA. Moreover, 89.52 % of CBD was quickly released in the simulated digestion process. CBD-WSA showed remarkable antioxidant activity. After high-temperature treatment, the CBD retention rate of CBD-WSA was higher than that of unencapsulated CBD. Overall, the results demonstrated that starch-based aerogels could be applied for the delivery of CBD.