Preparation, characterization and stability evaluation of ionic liquid blended chitosan tripolyphosphate microparticles

Abstract

Recently, drug delivery systems are facing several shortcomings which demand for the development of new formulations. A new drug–solvent systems may improve the characteristics and sustained release of drugs. Investigations in this domain revealed the significance of Ionic Liquids (ILs) as active pharmaceutical ingredients for pharmaceutical applications. ILs–drug assisted carriers exhibit many unique and attractive properties which are lacking in their conventional counterparts. In this work, Chitosan (CS), a natural polymer was blended with an ammonium based IL, Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH), and microparticles (MPs) of CS–TMAOH–TPP were synthesized by cross–linking with sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) using ionic gelation method. The addition of TMAOH to CS enhanced the stability of MPs without affecting the particle size. FTIR analysis confirmed the structural changes whereas the FE-SEM analysis showed almost similar sizes of freeze–dried MPs as determined by Zetasizer. The morphology of the CS–TMAOH–TPP MPs was mostly similar to CS–TPP MPs. The Thermogravimetric analysis indicated that these MPs exhibit good thermal resistance. Moreover, the DSC and XRD analysis of the prepared MPs were conducted to analyze thermograms and crystallographic structure respectively. Overall, the present synthesized CS–TMAOH–TPP MPs are more stable than CS–TPP MPs, which will be useful for drug delivery applications. © 2019