Decanoic Acid–Lauric Acid Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent-Mediated Lycopene Emulsion Microcapsules and Their Stability

Lycopene is a naturally occurring lipophilic carotenoid. However, its practical application is severely limited by its poor water solubility and high chemical instability. This study was aimed to develop a high-loading lycopene microcapsule formulation through firstly improving lycopene solubilization by using a hydrophobic natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) and then enhancing its stability through spray drying microencapsulation. Under thermal–ultrasonic treatment, the optimized NADES was achieved a maximum process-assisted lycopene loading capacity of 30 mg/g. Furthermore, under heating at 80 °C for 8 h, lycopene retention in the microcapsules was 56.53%, compared with 8.27% in the corresponding free solution. Microencapsulation significantly improved the stability of highly loaded lycopene. During 4 weeks of storage at 25 °C, the microcapsules retained 76.31% of the lycopene, while it was almost completely degraded in the free solution (0.48%). Importantly, antioxidant activity was well retained after encapsulation, with DPPH inhibition values of 66.92% (free) and 62.54% (encapsulated). These findings suggested that NADES-based enrichment enabled high lycopene loading, and it would provide effective protection against degradation during processing and storage. Graphical