Abstract: The essential oil of Semen Abutili was extracted by petroleum ether under ultrasonic assistance and microencapsulated using β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) as the wall material. Based on one-factor-at-a-time experiments, Box-Behnken experimental design combined with response surface analysis was applied to optimize process conditions for the extraction and microencapsulation of the oil. The optimal process conditions were determined as follows: 75 W ultrasonic power, 62.3℃ encapsulation temperature and 88 min encapsulation time. Under the optimal conditions, the observed value of encapsulation rate was 81.35%, which was in good agreement with the predicted value. Encapsulation rate was highly significantly affected by encapsulation temperature (P＜0.01) and time (P＜0.01). Ultrasonic power presented a significant effect (P＜0.05).

Key words: Semen Abutili oil, microencapsulation, β-cyclodextrin (β-CD)