The effect of concentration and rate of TPP addition on chitosan nanoparticle size

Chitosan(CS) is a linear polysaccharide composed of randomly distributed β-(1-4)-linked D-glucosamine and Nacetyl- D-glucosamine. Many studies have been done onchitosan nanoparticles as a good carrier candidate for essential oils because of being biocompatible, biodegradable, and lowtoxic material with high cationic potential. Among a variety of chitosan nanoparticle preparation methods, ionic gelation technique has attracted considerable attention due toconvenient and controllable process conditions [1]. In addition, employment of the physical reversible cross-linkingvia electrostatic interactions avoids toxicity of reagents and other undesirable effects [2]. The size of nano particles can be controlled by sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) concentrationand rate of addition. Thus, in this study, a low molecular weight (LMW) chitosan was chosen, and variation in particlesize was studied as a function of the addition rate and the concentration of the TPP solution. A possible application of the resulting nanoparticles is in controlled drug delivery systems.