Jute fiber crystalline cellulose grafted polysaccharide: Preparation, grafting and optimization for drug delivery...

This study aimed to prepare acrylamide graft copolymers of cellulose crystals from jute fiber. The prepared copolymer was analyzed to establish its pharmaceutical applications. Prepared cellulose crystals were grafted by microwave irradiation and characterized for water absorbency, chemical resistance, and temperature sensitivity behaviours. Bovine serum albumin was loaded into grafted cellulose crystals using the swelling-diffusion method. 3² factorial design was followed for formulation optimization. The results of micrometric studies of cellulose crystals revealed that the crystals were free flowing, had good flowability, and had a good percentage of water absorbency (94.0 ± 0.73 at 25 °C) and chemical resistance (94.6 ± 0.81 at 25 °C). The chemical resistance and water absorbency increased with an increase in temperature. The native jute fiber had a smooth and fibrous surface, whereas cellulose crystals had a rough surface. The chemical resistance (97.9 ± 0.88 to 98.4 ± 0.85 in 0.1 N HCl pH 1.2 and 97.7 ± 0.83 to 98.2 ± 0.85 in PBS pH 7.4) and water absorbency (95.3 ± 0.76 to 96.0 ± 0.84 in 0.1 N HCl pH 1.2 and 94.1 ± 0.83 to 95.6 ± 0.79 in PBS pH 7.4) of the acrylamide-grafted copolymer were enhanced relative to treated jute fiber. Acrylamide-grafted copolymers demonstrated high drug loading (75.5 ± 0.29 to 71.0 ± 0.41 %) and prolonged drug release (98.96 ± 4.10 to 99.13 ± 3.47) over a period of 24 h in comparison to the cellulose crystals which achieved 91.93 ± 2.82 % release within 6 h. Formulations followed Hixon-Crowel kinetic model of drug release. The results demonstrated that acrylamide-grafted cellulose crystals had enhanced water absorption, chemical resistance, temperature sensitivity, and prolonged drug release, indicating potential applications in pharmaceuticals.