Fluorescence Lifetime and UV-Vis Spectroscopy to Evaluate the Interactions Between Quercetin and Its Yeast Microcapsule

Quercetin is a fragile bioactive compound. Several works have tried to preserve it by encapsulation but the form of encapsulation (mono- or supra-molecular structure, tautomeric form), though important for stability and bioavailability, remains unknown. The present work aims at developing a fluorescence lifetime technique to evaluate the structure of quercetin during encapsulation in a vector capsule that has already proven efficiency, yeast cells. Molecular stabilization was observed during a 4-month storage period. The time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) technique was used to evaluate the interaction between quercetin molecules and the yeast capsule. The various tautomeric forms, as identified by UV-Vis spectroscopy, result in various lifetimes in TCSPC, although they varied also with the buffer environment. Quercetin in buffer exhibited a three-to-four longer long-time after 24h (changing from 6-7 to 18-23ns), suggesting an aggregation of molecules. In yeast microcapsules, the long-time population exhibited a longer lifetime (around 27ns) from the beginning and concerned about 20% of molecules compared to dispersed quercetin. This shows that lifetime analysis can show the monomolecular instability of quercetin in buffer and the presence of interactions between quercetin molecules and their microcapsules.