This work provides a better understanding for effective control of the nanocapsules wall thickness. Polyamides based nanocapsules are prepared by interfacial polymerization combined with spontaneous emulsification. A clear guideline of how factors such as monomer concentration, diffusion, interfacial reaction, or water swelling influence the capsule formation is very important to the control of capsule wall structure and release performance. In this goal, the macroscopic planar models of the interfacial polycondensation between diethylenetriamine and sebacoyle chloride are studied experimentally and theoretically. This planar model is developed to examine the kinetics of the reaction and to perform the estimation of parameters thanks to the experiment measurements. The effect of the operating conditions on the wall thickness is also studied. The model is shown to be consistent with the experimental data. Next, the spherical model is deduced from the first one. The results obtained with this model are in accordance with some observations of wall thickness. From this model, the increase of the wall thickness is predicted for several operating conditions. (c) 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers