Preparation and development of pharmaceutical microcapsules

Microcapsule technology has become one of the high-new technologies in 21st century, and has been used widely. This review is given about the preparation methods and technical principles of microcapsule, especially the latest development with supercritical fluid technology and solvent evaporation. The characterization methods and properties of microcapsules are analyzed. The characteristics of rapid expansion of supercritical solution (RESS), supercritical anti-solvent precipitation (SAS) and particles from gas-saturated solutions (PGSS) are analyzed emphatically. The preparation of drug microcapsules by the solvent evaporation method is reviewed, and the technical principles of solvent evaporation are introduced. The further research trends of microcapsule are also discussed.