With its countless health effects, thyme extract may seem like a magical medicinal ingredient. Its biologically active compounds—thymol, carvacrol, rosmarinic acid and caffeic acid—provide anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant and immune benefits.
With countless health benefits, thyme extract may seem like a magical medicinal compound. Its bioactive constituents—thymol, carvacrol, rosmarinic acid and caffeic acid—provide anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant and immune benefits.
However, thyme extract has disadvantages. It evaporates rapidly, which complicates its use, and excessive amounts can be irritating, causing rashes and digestive problems.
Encapsulation of thyme extract offers a solution to both issues: encapsulating nanodroplets of thyme extract within another liquid allows smaller doses to be used and prevents evaporation. Researchers from Tomsk Polytechnic University and Surgut State University in Russia developed a method to obtain encapsulated nanodoses of thyme and published their findings in Physics of Fluids.
The researchers' process involved thyme extract, gelatin, sodium alginate—a thickening agent commonly used in the food industry—and oil jets. They first created a solution from thyme extract and gelatin, then pushed it through a small nozzle simultaneously with a sodium alginate jet.
The nozzle focused the two liquids into a single stream, but with a clear boundary between the components. Then, an oil jet directed perpendicular to the flow separated the multicomponent liquid into small, encapsulated droplets.
Potential applications and future directions The key takeaway from this work is not the thyme dose itself, but rather the demonstration that precise thyme extract nanodosing is feasible. Additional work is needed to take the nanodose and place it into an oral capsule for pharmaceutical applications.
Author Maxim Piskunov stated, "The system tends to self-regulate to deliver a relatively consistent dose, which is valuable for drug delivery." "At the same time, it is possible to change and adjust the size of microdroplets containing a nanodose of bioactive substance simply by changing the oil phase flow rate."
The technique is not limited to thyme and can extend beyond the pharmacology industry to even the food industry. Piskunov said that incorporating machine vision and artificial intelligence could further assist in real-time nanodosing analysis.
Piskunov stated, "We believe this method can be used to encapsulate various aqueous extracts." "From our work, no significant limitation has been identified. Moreover, we are currently working on encapsulating a water-alcohol extract containing bioactive substances at much higher concentrations."
Source / Mathematical model of nanodosing of water-thyme extract using droplet microfluidics, Physics of Fluids (2026). DOI: 10.1063/5.0303637 / Journal information: Physics of Fluids / https://phys.org/news/2026-01-harnessing-medicinal-benefits-thyme-nanodosing.html
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