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CarbohydratePolymers86 (2011) 1817–1819
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Carbohydrate Polymers
j our na l h o me p ag e :w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / c a r b p o l
Short communication
Size controlled synthesis of starch nanoparticles by a simple nanoprecipitation method
Suk Fun Chin
∗, Suh Cem Pang, Soon Hiang Tay
DepartmentofChemistry,FacultyofResourceScienceandTechnology,UniversitiMalaysiaSarawak,94300,KotaSamarahan,Sarawak,Malaysia
a r t i c l e i n f o
Articlehistory:
Received8April2011
Receivedinrevisedform30May2011 Accepted8July2011
Available online 19 July 2011
Keywords:
Sagostarch Nanoparticles Nanoprecipitation Particlesizecontrol
a b s t r a c t
Starchnanoparticlesofparticlesizerangebetween300nmand400nmweresynthesizedbyasimple nanoprecipitationmethodfromnativesagostarch(Metroxylonsagu).Starchnanoparticleswereformed bycontrolledprecipitationthroughdrop-wiseadditionofdissolvednativestarchsolutiontoexcessabso- luteethanol.Thesizeandshapeofstarchnanoparticlesweremodulatedvaryingthesynthesisparameters includingtheuseofappropriatesurfactant.Starchnanoparticleswithmeandiameterofabout150nm wereobtainedinthepresenceofsurfactantsduringprecipitation.Bothsolventandnon-solventsystems usedinthesynthesismethodwereaqueous-basedandthemethodwasfacile,andeasytoperformas comparedtoothersynthesisapproachespreviouslyreported.
© 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Starchisoneofthenaturaloccurringpolymerswhichisbio- compatible,biodegradableandshowsbio-adhesionproperty.Itis a polysaccharidethatcontains amyloseand amylopectin (Pang, Chin,Tay,&Tchong,2011).Duetoitsbiodegradability,abundance and low cost, starch has been widely used in various applica- tionssuchaswater-solublepouchesforinsecticides(Frederiksen, Hansen,Borggaard,&Pedersen,2002),tissueengineeringscaffolds (Gomes,Godinho,Tchalamov,Chunha,&Reis,2002),excipientsfor tablettinganddrugdeliverycarriers(Mahkam,2010).Nano-sized starchparticleshaveattractedmuchattentionduetotheirunique propertiesthataredifferentsignificantlyfromtheirbulkmateri- als.Varioussynthesis methodshavebeenattemptedtoprepare starch or starch derivatives nanoparticles. Starch nanoparticles withparticlessizesofaround20–50nmweresynthesizedbycom- plexformationofstarch–butanolfollowedbyenzymatichydrolysis ofthesestarch–butanolcomplexes(Kim&Lim,2009).However, duetothesignificantloss(85–90%)oftheinitialstarchcomplex duringhydrolysisprocess,theoverallyieldoftheresultingstarch nanoparticleswasverylow.Liuetal.reportedtheuseofahighpres- surehomogenizationmethodtopreparecornstarchnanoparticles withyieldofalmost100%.However,theirsynthesis methoddid notallowpropercontrolofparticlesizes(Liu,Wu,Chen,&Chang, 2009).
Due to its simplicity and reproducibility, the nanoprecip- itation technique has been explored for the preparation of
∗Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+6082582999;fax:+6082583160.
E-mailaddress:[email protected](S.F.Chin).
syntheticpolymernanoparticlessuchaspoly(lacticacid)(PLA)and poly(lactic-co-glycolicacid)(PLGA)nanoparticles(Bilati,Allemann,
&Doelker,2005).Inthispaper,wehavereportedonthesynthesis ofstarchnanoparticleswithcontrollableparticlesizesfromnative sagostarchusingthenanoprecipitationmethod.Starchnanopar- ticleswereformedinstantaneouslyinthisone-stepprecipitation process.Starchnanoparticlesofcontrollableparticlesizeandshape wereobtainedbyoptimizingtheprecipitationconditionssuchas therateofprecipitationandtheuseofsurfactantsduringprecipi- tation.
2. Materialsandmethods
Allchemicalswereofreagentgradeandwereusedwithoutfur- therpurification.Ultrapurewater(∼18.2M,25◦C)wasobtained from a Water Purifying System (ELGA, Model Ultra Genetic).
SodiumhydroxideandTween80werepurchasedfromMerck.Cetyl trimethylammoniumbromidewasobtainedfromJ.T.Baker.Native sagostarchpowderwasobtainedfromalocalgrocerystore.
2.1. Preparationofsagostarchnanoparticles
Starchnanoparticleswereobtainedbyadditionofstarchsolu- tionintoexcessabsoluteethanolundercontrolledconditions.In thisstudy,theNaOH/urea(NU)(0.8:1wt%)solutionmixturewas usedasasolventsystemforthedissolutionofnativesagostarch.
Generally1wt%ofnativesagostarchsolutionwaspreparedbydis- solvingnativesagostarchpowderintheNUsolventatambient conditions. Analiquot ofsagostarchsolution(1mL)wasadded drop-wiseintoafixedquantityofabsoluteethanol(10mL,15mL and20mL)whichwascontinuallystirredusingamagneticstirrerat 0144-8617/$–seefrontmatter© 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2011.07.012
