本研究以活性碳、糊精、磷酸鹽類、改質澱粉、二氧化矽、SBA-15及MCM-41等多孔性物質作為蝦紅素的包覆材料，上述材料除了二氧化矽之外，其餘均具有疏水性及多孔性，疏水性可使蝦紅素分子被順利的吸入材料的孔洞之中，是選擇包覆材料的重要條件，而材料的孔隙度則影響可包覆的蝦紅素含量及包覆率，是判斷是否能實行並用於商業的重要考量因素之一。本研究中配置添加少量精鹽之pH 1.4鹽酸溶液作為胃酸模擬環境，並以pH 7.4之磷酸緩衝液作為小腸模擬環境，並將製備的複合粉末置於模擬環境中測試，在溶離試驗中磷酸鹽類、改質澱粉包覆的複合粉末在模擬腸胃的環境中均可良好的釋放出蝦紅素。本研究以紫外光-可見光近紅外光光譜儀作為主要分析儀器，將蝦紅素複合粉末溶於Dimethyl sulfoxide(DMSO)配置成樣品並量測吸光度，由樣品吸光度可推得蝦紅素含量並藉此計算出粉末對蝦紅素的包覆率，經實驗得知所選用之材料中二氧化矽的包覆率不佳，但磷酸鹽類、SBA-15、MCM-41以及改質澱粉對蝦紅素均具有良好的包覆效果。實驗結果顯示磷酸鹽類和改質澱粉能適用於蝦紅素的吸收且其複合粉末在人體內釋放蝦紅素的情況佳，用作蝦紅素包覆的材料有發展的潛力。;Abstract In this study, several inorganic materials were chosen for the encapsulation of astaxanthin. The materials included activated carbon, phosphate, SBA-15, MCM-41 and aerosil. All of them are hydrophobic and porous, except silica. The hydrophobic property makes the materials easier to absorb the astaxanthin molecular. It is the major factor to choose them as the encapsulation agent. The porosity of the material affects the amount of astaxanthin absorbed by materials and encapsulation rate. Based on the absorption performance, one can decide whether the material can be applied to practical use or not. In this experiment, the astaxanthin composite powder was prepared and astaxanthin was encapsulated in the porous material. Astaxanthin in composite powder should be able to be released in human body. Hydrochloric acid solution with a trace of salt at pH value 1.4 and phosphate buffer solution with pH value 7.4 were used to simulate the performance of astaxanthin composite powder in stomach and small intestine. The dissolution results show that all kind of astaxanthin composite powder can release astaxanthin in human bodies and phosphate is the most efficient one. In this study, Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV/vis) was used to analyze the samples. The composite powder was dissolved in Dimethyl sulfoxide and analyzed with UV/vis spectrophotometer. The amount of astaxanthin in composite powder was obtained by the absorbance of samples and the encapsulation rate was calculated. The experimental results show that the silica we use is not suitable for astaxanthin encapsulation due to its weak capability to absorb astaxanthin. Its encapsulation rate was low. Phosphate, MCM-41 and SBA-15 showed good performance in astaxanthin absorption. The results demonstrated that phosphate is the best one to adsorb astaxanthin and release it in human bodies among all materials. It has great potential in the encapsulation of astaxanthin.
