PREPARATION OF AMPHIPHILIC CELLULOSE DERIVATIVES AND THEIR SELF-ASSEMBLED NANOPARTICLES FOR DRUG DELIVERY APPLICATIONS

To meet the requirement of developing value-added biomass materials, core-shell structured nanoparticles self-assembled from amphiphilic cellulose were prepared as novel functional nanostructures for potential application in biomedical field. Firstly, a series of amphiphilic cellulose derivatives were synthesized by hydrophobic modification of cellulose from different source. The solubilities of the obtained cellulose derivatives in multiple solvents and their self-assembly behaviors in water were investigated. The self-assembled nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic laser scattering (DLS). The results showed that the critical aggregation concentration (CMC) and size of nanoparticles were mainly determined by the length and content of hydrophobic side chain of copolymers. Moreover, the nanoparticles applying potential in solubilizing and delivering hydrophobic anticancer drug of palitaxel was also evaluated in this paper.