Oleic acid-grafted chitosan polymeric micellar aggregates for coumarin-6 encapsulation

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Chitosan is a biocompatible polysaccharide with potential in drug delivery.
• Encapsulating hydrophobic drugs in aqueous systems remains a challenge.
• Amphiphilic graft copolymers can form self-assembled structures for drug delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize oleic acid-grafted chitosan (CS-g-OA) for hydrophobic compound encapsulation.
• To investigate the self-assembly properties and micellar characteristics of CS-g-OA.
• To evaluate the encapsulation efficiency of a model hydrophobic compound within CS-g-OA micelles.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of CS-g-OA via DCC-mediated amide coupling.
• Characterization using 1H NMR, FTIR, and UV-Vis spectroscopy.
• Analysis of self-assembly (CMC), particle size (DLS), morphology (SEM), and encapsulation efficiency (%EE).

Main Results:

• CS-g-OA was successfully synthesized with a degree of substitution (DS) of 8.2%.
• CS-g-OA formed self-assembled micelles in aqueous solution with a CMC of 574.8 μg/mL.
• Coumarin-6 loaded micelles exhibited an encapsulation efficiency of 29% with spherical morphology.

Conclusions:

• Oleic acid-grafted chitosan (CS-g-OA) can form polymeric micelles for encapsulating hydrophobic compounds.
• The molecular weight and DS of CS-g-OA are key parameters for optimizing encapsulation performance.
• CS-g-OA presents a promising platform for hydrophobic drug delivery systems.