Emulsification technology of Aomori hiba oil and applications of the emulsified oil

Hiroki, Akihiro; Iwanaga, Shigeru; Tamada, Masao; Okabe, Toshihiro*; Ono, Hiroyuki*; Hatayama, Ichiro*; Waguri, Atsushi*; Sawada, Yuzuru*; Nakane, Akio*; Sano, Teruo*

Aomori Hiba oil is oil of the natural thing origin extracted from the sawdust generated during lumbering of Aomori Hiba that is the tree in Aomori prefecture by the steam distillation. The extracted Aomori Hiba oil has excellent antibacterial and insecticidal effects. To heighten the added value of the Aomori Hiba oil, the water-soluble nano-hiba oil with about 10 nm of particle size was developed by applying emulsification technology to the oil. The emulsified Aomori Hiba oils showed no signs of phase separation and remained intact even six months after its preparation. Since the nano-hiba oil can be sprayed quickly, antibacterial examinations were carried out to explore potential applications in preventions of hospital infection and damages caused by blight and insect in agricultural environments. Furthermore, a novel antibacterial material composed of nano-hiba oil and water-absorption biodegradable gel was investigated. Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) hydrogels as support materials for the nano-hiba oil were prepared by irradiating to paste-like aqueous solutions of HPC. Degree of swelling of the HPC hydrogels was influenced by compositions in nano-hiba oils. Subsequently, absorbability in nano-hiba oil as well as the antibacterial effects was evaluated. The HPC hydrogels swollen in the nano-hiba oil mixing silica showed excellent antibacterial effect up to three weeks. Therefore, it was suggested that the hydrogels containing nano-hiba oil are suitable as antibacterial materials.