Novel biocompatible and antimicrobial supramolecular O-carboxymethyl chitosan biguanidine/zinc physical hydrogels

Zinc crosslinked supramolecular hydrogels from O-carboxymethyl chitosan biguanidine were successfully prepared. The structures of the prepared hydrogels were verified by ¹H NMR, FTIR and XRD. FE-SEM verified the porous structure of hydrogels especially at high contents of Zn²⁺ ions. The integral procedure decomposition temperatures calculated from TGA curves showed that the thermal stability was increased upon increasing the content of Zn²⁺ ions. Cytotoxicity assays confirmed that the amounts of Zn²⁺ ions released from hydrogels were below the toxic level towards a breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). The prepared hydrogels exhibited a significant microbial inhibition towards different species of bacteria and fungi, particularly at high Zn contents. Based on the obtained interesting data, the prepared zinc/O-carboxymethyl chitosan biguanidine could be used in drug delivery and biomedical applications.