Chitotriazolan nanoparticles for drug delivery

Abstract

Nanoparticle-based formulations improve the delivery of known drugs by enhancing solubility, lengthening the drug's half-life in vivo, and in some cases, performing active targeting of organs and cells. Recent examples include liposome drug carriers for oncology and lipid nanoparticles for Covid vaccines. Nanoparticles can also be basedon polyelectrolyte complexes between a cationic and an anionic polymer. Chitosan is a polysaccharide made from the deacetylation of chitin found in shrimp shells. Chitotriazolans are chitosan derivatives obtained by first converting the polymer to chitosan azide and then reacting it with an alkyne modified precursor copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (click reaction).The aim of the research project was to synthesize cationic, anionic, andfluorescent chitotriazolans using chitosan oligomer as starting material. The purpose was also to synthesize vanillin imine chitotriazolan conjugate, designed to release the antimicrobial vanillin in an acidic aqueous solution. These chitotriazolans were then tobe used to formulate polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles intended for drug delivery.The synthesis of trimethyl ammonium chitotriazolan was successful. Someprecursors for the synthesis of other chitotriazolans were also synthesized purified, and the structure was confirmed by proton NMR and FT-IR. The synthesis of anionic, fluorescent, and vaniniline conjugate chitotriazolans could not be confirmed as the products were insoluble in D2O and other available solvents and could not be analyzedby NMR. Chitosan-chondroitin sulfate polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticle formation was studied using Nanosight NS300. One nanoformulation, made with 2:1 ratio between chitosan oligomer and chondroitin sulfate polymer, showed promising results, indicating the formation of nanoparticles with a narrow size range.