Abstract

Chitosan (CS) nanoparticles (NPs) are attracting interest because of their applications in drug delivery and medical imaging. This study synthesized low-molecular-weight CS NPs by ionic crosslinking with tripolyphosphate (TPP) as crosslinker using static mixers. Effects of process parameters on the size of CS NPs were investigated. CS NPs 168–1000 nm in size were obtained. Increasing the number of mixing elements, decreasing the CS concentration, or increasing the temperature of CS solution produced small NPs. Increasing the CS/TPP ratio initially decreased and then increased the size of CS NPs, with the smallest NPs obtained at 10:3 CS/TPP ratio. Flow rate exerted a similar effect as volume ratio on the size of CS NPs. Flow rates of 250 and 75 mL/min for CS and TPP solutions, respectively, produced the smallest particles. A fully continuous process was developed by combining static mixing and ionic crosslinking to mass produce CS NPs.

摘要

壳聚糖 (CS) 纳米粒子 (NPs) 因其在药物输送和医学成像中的应用而引起了人们的兴趣。本研究使用静态混合器通过以三聚磷酸盐 (TPP) 作为交联剂的离子交联合成低分子量 CS NP。研究了工艺参数对 CS NP 尺寸的影响。获得了尺寸为 168-1000 nm 的 CS NP。增加混合元素的数量、降低 CS 浓度或提高 CS 溶液的温度会产生小的 NPs。增加 CS/TPP 比率最初会减少然后增加 CS NP 的大小，在 10:3 的 CS/TPP 比率下获得最小的 NP。流速对 CS NPs 的大小产生与体积比相似的影响。CS 和 TPP 溶液的流速分别为 250 和 75 mL/min，产生的颗粒最小。