Hi,
I synthesized the chitosan nanoparticles with encapsulated betaine but the quantity I obtained was much less than expected. I took 20mg betaine and dissolved it in 1ml ethanol because it is soluble in ethanol and methanol and dissolved it in the chitosan acetic acid solution while magnetic stirring and left it overnight for complete dissolution. When the solution was centrifuged, very little pellet was obtained. What could be the possible reason for a very small quantity of the nanoparticles with encapsulated betaine?
HI.
The following article talks about LMW, VLMW, and HWM Chitosan. Among the discussion the investigators talk about the stability and state that the LMW are not as stable as the HWM. " Larger NPs, prepared with a chitosan of higher molecular weight, have more intermolecular entanglements and inter/intra-molecular hydrogen bondings, producing a stable nanogel which therefore needs more time to change the size of the nanoparticle." So, what MW Chitosan are you working with?
Article Chitosan Nanoparticles: Preparation, Size Evolution and Stability.
Also, have you used DLS to confirm Chitosan nanoparticles in solution before and before and after centrifuging? I used DLS for nanocomplex detection and believe this should be something that can help confirm what you have before spinning samples down.
Also Researchgate has an older discussion about the influence of pH. I have included that here as they talk about pH impacting the yield of Chitosan NPs.
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_i_did_not_get_pellet_after_centrifuging_chitosan_nanoparticle
Good luck and I hope you soon see some higher yields spinning your way.
@ John Reye I am so thankful for your kind response. Well, the chitosan I am using is the medium weight chitosan. I hope that I do get stable nanoparticles.
Well, I also got the good yield of nanoparticles, I previously missed sonication of the solution due to which the yield was not obtained.
I agree with John. In addition to pH effect, try to find an anti-solvent for both your drug and chitosan. slow addition of anti-solvent May aid in increased yield.
- Badges
- Science topic