Biodegradability and swelling capacity of kaolin based chitosan-g-PHEMA nanocomposite hydrogel

Int J Biol Macromol. 2015 Mar:74:620-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2014.12.024. Epub 2015 Jan 2.

Abstract

Chitosan, a natural biopolymer, obtained by alkaline deacetylation of chitin, exhibits excellent biological properties such as biodegradability, immunological and antibacterial activity. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the chemical modification of chitosan in order to widen its applications. The chemical modification of chitosan has been achieved via grafting of monomer, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in the presence of the initiator, ammonium persulfate (APS) and kaolin was added to improve the mechanical strength of the newly developed nanocomposites hydrogel. The so prepared grafted nanocomposites hydrogel was characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM and TGA. The equilibrium water content (EWC) of the samples were measured at different pH ranges 6.5-8.0 and found optimum at pH 7.5 for biomedical applications. Further, the biodegradability of the samples was studied at different time intervals from 15 days to 1 year but, the kaolin based nanohydrogels exhibited good biodegradability.

Keywords: Biodegradability; Chitosan; EWC; Grafting; Kaolin; Nanocomposite hydrogel.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biocompatible Materials / chemistry
  • Chitosan / chemistry*
  • Drug Delivery Systems
  • Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate / chemistry*
  • Kaolin / administration & dosage*
  • Materials Testing
  • Molecular Structure
  • Nanocomposites / chemistry*
  • Nanocomposites / ultrastructure
  • Polyhydroxyethyl Methacrylate / chemistry*
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • Thermogravimetry
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Kaolin
  • Polyhydroxyethyl Methacrylate
  • Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate
  • Chitosan