Synthesis and characterization of chitosan based advanced materials for surface modification composite and dental applications

Abstract

Chitosan is a linear cationic polysaccharide known for its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and mucoadhesion. The present work utilizes these bio-friendly properties of chitosan to develop surface modified inorganic nanoparticles, nanocomposites and dental irrigants.The study was carried out in four topics such as surface modified ZnS nanoparticles for biological imaging, improving the processability of fully substituted N-acyl chitosan derivatives to get nanoparticles, wear improvement of dental sealants and development of endodontic root canal irrigants. Self-assembly of chitosan over a core leads to advanced materials newlineuseful in targeted delivery and diagnosis at the molecular level. In this context, in an attempt to study the hydrophobic modification of chitosan and its impact on surface modification of an inorganic core, a new N-alkyl chitosan derivative, trans N-(6,6-dimethyl-2-hepten-4-ynyl)chitosan (CSD) was synthesized and studied for the surface modification of ZnS nanoparticles. Physicochemical characterization of the surface modified ZnS nanoparticles (ZnS-CSD NPs) cofirmed the structure and nano size of the synthesized nanoparticles. Fluorescence studies of the proposed ZnS-CSD newlineNPs showed excellent emission at 457 nm. Fluorescence studies also confirmed the enhanced photostability of surface modified ZnS nanoparticles than conventional dyes. Chitin is a naturally occurring fully N-acylated biopolymer which cannot be converted into nanomaterial easily by ultrafine milling due to its rigidity and chemical inertness which restricts its utilization in nanomaterial based application. In the present research work, an attempt is made to prepare fully N-acylated chitosan derivatives, which are chitin like compounds and converted into nanoparticles by ultrafine milling. newline newline