Lucia Baldino

University of Salerno, Italy

Title: Supercritical CO2 assisted processes: advanced strategies to produce bio-carriers from micro- to nanoscale for drug delivery

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Biography

Lucia Baldino graduated in Chemical Engineering, summa cum laude, in 2011, at the University of Salerno, Italy, discussing a thesis on the “Production of polymeric membranes by supercritical phase separation for active packaging applications”. She gained the PhD degree in Chemical Engineering, in 2015, at the same University, with a thesis on “Green processes based on SC-CO₂: application to materials of biomedical interest”, obtaining an outstanding judgment. Starting from 2015, she is a research fellow at the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Italy. In 2018, she got the Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale (ASN) to become Associate Professor (SSD ING-IND/25).

Abstract

Supercritical fluid technologies, for the production of pharmaceutical bio-carriers, are achieving substantial attention thanks to their advantages over the conventional methods, as, in particular, a significant decrease or complete elimination of the use of organic solvents, absence of post-processing methods, and a considerable increase in experimental reproducibility. Moreover, these technologies can be easily scaled-up from laboratory to industrial scale. Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂), an inexpensive, inert, non-toxic, nonflammable and environmentally friendly alternative to organic solvents, has been successfully used for the production of micro- and nanoparticles, liposomes, and niosomes, due to its unique properties as high diffusivity, negligible surface tension, low viscosity and high density. Besides, SC-CO₂ exhibits mild-critical parameters that avoid the degradation of thermosensitive biomolecules and can be easily achieved and controlled during an industrial process.

In this context, two innovative processes assisted by SC-CO₂ are presented: supercritical assisted electrospaying and supercritical assisted liposomes formation technology. In particular, in both processes, the addition of SC-CO₂ to a starting solution allows to achieve an expanded liquid, characterized by reduced viscosity and surface tension. Thanks to these peculiarities, polyvinylpyrrolidone microparticles loaded with quercetin were produced by supercritical assisted electrospaying, and liposomes loaded with curcumin were produced by supercritical assisted liposomes formation technology, for drug delivery applications. The influence of the main process parameters on the final bio-carriers chemical, physical and morphological properties is described and critically discussed in this work.