Synthesis of thiolated chitosan nanoparticles

Chitosan is a natural, biocompatible, biodegradable, and low toxic polymer. Based on such applicable characteristics, chitosan has attracted considerable attention in the various areas including biotechnology, biomedicine, food and cosmetics. Chitosan and its derivative could be used as an ideal support for enzyme immobilization. In this work, we prepared thiolated chitosan nanoparticles using chitosan and thioglycolic acid (TGA). Chitosan nanoparticles were synthesized by addition of Sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) solution to chitosan dissolved in acetic acid (1%). Finally, thiolation of chitosan nanoparticles were performed by addition of thioglycolic acid (TGA). After 3 hours of incubation, the reaction mixture was centrifuged and sediment was finally separated. Elman reaction was used for determination of thiol content of nanoparticles.The thiolated chitosan nanoparticles characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that an applicable polymer of thiolated chitosan nanoparticles has been synthesized to use as matrix. Thiol content of prepared nanoparticles were 491 μM. Based on the results obtained from XRD and FTIR reveal that, this thiolated chitosan nanoparticle could be an appropriate matrix for enzyme immobilization due to its specification.

Keywords:

Chitosan , Sodium tripolyphosphate , Thioglycolic acid