Synthesis of self-assembly of agarose-fatty acid ester nanoparticles

Abstract

Microwave assisted facile synthesis of hydrophobically modified nano-sized particulate esters of agarose and stearic and palmitic acids (Ag-SA and Ag-PA), employing carbodiimide chemistry has been described. The hydrophobically modified agarose is capable of forming self-assembled nano-sized particles. Physicochemical characterization of Ag-SA, Ag-PA has been carried out by gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetric, scanning electron microscopy and FT-IR, ¹³C-NMR and ¹H-NMR spectra. The aqueous self-assembly of the modified polymer has been studied by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy, which shows the formation of 4-5 nm micelles, and 220-250 nm polymeric vesicles. TEM images demonstrate that the self-aggregate is spherical in shape. These new agarose based nano-sized materialsmay be of potential utility in biomedical applications as drug delivery vehicles.