Herein, we report on the preparation of ultra-low sized (<100 nm in diameter) biodegradable polymeric capsules for potential applications as nanocontainers in antibiotic therapy. Hollow nanospheres based on the chitosan/poly(acrylic acid) pair are elaborated via (i) the layer-by-layer technique using gold nanoparticles (20 and 60 nm in size) as sacrificial templates, (ii) loading with amoxicillin, a betalactam antibiotic, and (iii) removal of the gold core via cyanide-assisted hydrolysis. Size, dispersity and concentration of the resulting nanocapsules are easily tuned by the nanoparticle templates, while wall thickness is controlled by the number of polyelectrolyte bilayers. Electrostatic interactions between the protonated amine groups of chitosan and the carboxyl groups of poly(acrylic acid) act as the driving attraction force allowing easy and fast design of robust and well-ordered multilayer films. Successful hydrolysis of the gold core is evidenced by time-dependent monitoring of the gold spectroscopic signature (absorbance at 519 nm and 539 nm for the gold nanoparticles with 20 and 60 nm, respectively). Crosslinked capsules are also prepared through crosslinking of the chitosan chains with glutaraldehyde. Chitosan-based nanocapsules are finally evidenced to be promising drug delivery vehicles of amoxicillin trihydrate with tuneable properties such as entrapment efficiency in the range of 62–75% and 3.5–5.5% concerning the drug loading.

在本文中，我们报告了超低尺寸（直径<100 nm）可生物降解的聚合物胶囊的制备，这些胶囊有可能在抗生素治疗中作为纳米容器使用。基于壳聚糖/聚丙烯酸对的空心纳米球是通过（i）使用金纳米颗粒（尺寸为20和60 nm）作为牺牲模板的逐层技术制成的，（ii）用阿莫西林，β-内酰胺负载抗生素和（iii）通过氰化物辅助水解除去金核。所得纳米胶囊的尺寸，分散性和浓度易于通过纳米粒子模板进行调节，而壁厚则通过聚电解质双层的数量来控制。壳聚糖的质子化胺基与聚（丙烯酸）的羧基之间的静电相互作用充当驱动吸引力，从而可以轻松，快速地设计坚固且有序的多层膜。金芯的成功水解可通过对金光谱特征的时间依赖性监控来证明（分别具有20和60 nm的金纳米颗粒在519 nm和539 nm处的吸光度）。交联的胶囊也通过壳聚糖链与戊二醛的交联制备。