Characterization and Modification of Low Molecular Water-Soluble Chitosan for Pharmaceutical Application

Abstract

The low molecular water-soluble chitosan nanoparticles (LMWSC-NPs) were prepared, which was modified with hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties to evaluate the potential for pharmaceutics application. The synthesis of LMWSC-NPs was identified by FT-IR and <TEX>$^1H$</TEX>-NMR spectra. Also, we measured the photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) to investigate the characteristics and morphology of the LMWSC-NPs. At the PCS measurement, the more increase the number of substitutive group, the more decrease the positive charge of LMWSC-NP surface. From the results of TEM and AFM, spherical morphologies were observed, and their sizes were 30-150 nm. Resultantly, LMWSC-NPs prepared in this experiment will be expected as a suitable device for the drug targeting system.