Industrial Crops and Products 89 (2016) 350–355 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Trans-resveratrol micronization by SEDS technique Gean Pablo S. Aguiar a , Daiane L. Boschetto a , Lorenzo M.P.C. Chaves a , Bianca D. Arcari a , Angelo L. Piato b , J. Vladimir Oliveira a , Marcelo Lanza a,∗ a Department of Chemical Engineering and Food Engineering, UFSC, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil b Department of Pharmacology, ICBS, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 8 December 2015 Received in revised form 15 March 2016 Accepted 19 April 2016 Keywords: SEDS Trans-resveratrol Average particle size Micronization a b s t r a c t Trans-resveratrol is a polyphenol found in a variety of foods, especially in blackberries, grape seeds, grape skin and in red wine. This compound presents countless human health benefits, including antioxidant, antiplaquetary, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective activities, among others. The aim of this work was to investigate the application of SEDS (Solution Enhanced Dispersion by Supercritical Fluids) technique in the micronization of trans-resveratrol using a 2 3 Central Composite Design (CCD) with 3 central points so as to assess the influence of compound concentration (4, 12 and 20 mg mL −1 ), temperature (308, 313 and 318 K) and pressure (8, 10 and 12 MPa) on the particle size (D p ) produced. It was noted that the mean particle size obtained at 20 mg mL −1 resveratrol concentration, 8 MPa and 308 K was 0.22 m, a significant reduction compared with the original value of 36.65 m. In the majority/in most of the experiments spherical particles were obtained. At 95% confidence level temperature showed a positive effect while operating pressure and the interaction pressure × temperature showed a significant, negative effect, on the particle size. Analysis of micronized material proved that it is in compliance with pharmaceutical human consumption standards. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The micronization process is characterized by the reduction of average particle size in order to provide changes in physical struc- ture. This process is applied in different materials with different goals in the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries (Chau et al., 2007). The conventional techniques of micro/nanoparticle production present many disadvantages compared with tech- niques that use supercritical fluids, such as excessive use of solvents, thermal degradation, high residual solvent concentration and, particularly, difficulty with controlling particle size and distri- bution of particle size during the process (He et al., 2004). There are many advantages in reducing particle size of phar- maceutical compounds and therefore the study of micronization processes to modify the particle size, porosity and density is of great interest to allow incorporation of an active ingredient so that the administration can be directed towards a specific target (Rogers et al., 2001). According to Durán et al. (2010), a high bioavailability (up to 100%) of pharmaceutical compounds can be obtained with particles of average size in the range of 200–400 nm. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: m.lanza@ufsc.br (M. Lanza). Resveratrol (3,5,4 ′ -tri-hidroxy-trans-stilbene), a polyphenolic compound from the stilbene class, is a phytoalexin present in a variety of food items, including blackberries, peanuts, cranberries, dark chocolate and grapes. A wide variety of reports dealing with its biological and pharmacological properties has been published (see for example, Granzotto and Zatta, 2014; Ulrich et al., 2005; Witte et al., 2014). In studies performed by Walle et al. (2004) and Wenzel and Somoza, (2005) it has been noted that after oral administration of 25 mg resveratrol there was 70% absorption of the compound. However, its bioavailability was almost null as only traces of the molecule in its unaltered form were found in the plasma (Walle, 2011). Considering the potential of resveratrol as a bioactive agent, the goal of this work was to investigate the application of solution enhanced dispersion of supercritical fluids (SEDS) micronization process to achieve particle size reduction within the micro/nano scale, in order to enhance its solubility and increase the spe- cific surface contact area, consequently improving the compound’s bioavailability. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2016.04.047 0926-6690/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.