The collapse of polyelectrolytes by counterion condensation has been a topic of interest for the last half-century. Goh's lab has previously demonstrated the ability to manipulate polyelectrolyte conformation in the presence of counterions as a general way to make polymer-encapsulated nanoparticles. The charged polymer can exist in the extended chain conformation due to the repulsion of same charges along the chain. Introduction of counter-ions collapses the polymer by masking or neutralizing these charges, leading to a more compact nano-structure, where the resulting size is restricted by the collapse of the polymer of choice. This technique has been employed in making various types of materials – e.g., metals, oxides, quantum dots – within a polyacrylic acid nanoparticle. In this work, a similar approach is utilized as applied to naturally occurring polymers, such as hyaluronic acid (HA) and alginic acid (AL), which are of great interest as topical delivery systems. The nanoparticles formed are stabilized by covalent cross-linking HA or AL polymer using 1,6-hexanediamine in the presence of a water-soluble carbodiimide. Particle sizes were examined using kinematic viscosity (St), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).

Synthesis, characterization and potential applications of nanoparticles based on naturally-occurring polymers

256th National Meeting (2018)

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