Electrospun fibers of poly(L -lactic acid) containing DEET

In this manuscript we present preliminary data on nanofibers containing N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET), the active ingredient used in many commercial insect repellents. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such materials have been prepared by electrospinning, the only available literature data are related deal with miscibility and thermal properties of DEET/PLLA blends. In our study DEET was incorporated into PLLA-chloroform solutions that were successfully electrospun into mats. Spun mats were characterized by thermogravimetry to determine the exact amount of DEET encapsulated into the fibrous PLLA matrix, and by scanning electron microscopy to evaluate DEET effect on fibers morphology.