Perspectives & Review
TAO Xiaoqian, SUN Jiabin, LEI Jingwen, CHENG Lan, ZHANG Chungang
Soft capsules may encounter a series of stability problems in the processes of production,
transportation and storage, such as the adhesion, leakage and delayed disintegration, which greatly shorten the shelflives
of soft capsules. High temperature, high humidity, ultraviolet radiation, γ-radiation, rapid drying and other physical
conditions or exposing to aldehydes, ketones, imines and other chemical substances will cause cross-linking and aging
of soft capsule shell, inducing above stability issues. Developing new types of soft capsule shell material might improve
the aforementioned issues. In this review, new soft capsule shell materials are classified according to sources, the
research progress of animal-, plant- and microbial-derived materials, as well as modified and synthetic shell materials are
introduced, hoping to provide a reference for improving the stability of soft capsules during their shelf-lives.