Preparation and characterization of glycyrrhetinic acid-modified stearic acid-grafted chitosan micelles

Stearic acid-grafted chitosan (CS-SA) and glycyrrhetinic acid-conjugated stearic acid-grafted chitosan (GA-CS-SA) were synthesized and were further used for the preparation of micelles. The substitution degree (SD) of SA and GA on CS was measured. The physicochemical properties of CS-SA and GA-CS-SA micelles such as critical micelle concentration (CMC), aggregation number of hydrophobic micro-domain (AN), particle size, zeta potential, and morphology were also determined. The CMC of GA-CS-SA was about 17.49 μg/mL, which was relatively low. Its AN was 2.09. The GA-CS-SA micelles showed spherical shape with mean diameter of 121.1 nm and had positive charge, which suggested that GA-CS-SA could be a good carrier of cancer drug.