Use of natural monomer in the synthesis of nano- and microparticles of polyurethane by suspension-polyaddition technique

Polyurethane nano- and microparticles were synthesized by suspension-polyaddition technique, using aqueous polymerization medium. Castor oil, a vegetable triglyceride possessing hydroxyl groups was used as natural polyol and methylene cliphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) as isocyanate. The levofloxacin, an antibacterial drug was used as model drug to measure the particles encapsulation efficiency. The effect of the addition of a second polyol, the poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), and the stirring rate on the mean diameter and morphology of particles was also investigated. The poly(ethylene glycol) has an important effect in the reduction of particles size and their porosity. On the other hand, the poly(ethylene glycol) reduced the yield of encapsulation from 70% for the formulation without PEG to 20% for formulations with PEG. FTIR analysis confirmed the polyurethane formation. Dynamic light scattering study, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to determine the nanoparticles size and shape. Spectrofluorimetric analysis was used to detect the levofloxacin

Morphology of Soy Protein Isolate at Oil/Water and Oil/Air Interfaces

Herein, the emulsifying properties of soy protein isolate (SPI) were highlighted by showing that the macromolecules undergo conformational changes when adsorbed at interfaces. The conformation of protein chains nested at the interfacial region of oil in water (o/w) emulsions by means of X-ray scattering (SAXS) and direct imaging (scanning electron microscopy (SEM)) techniques was investigated. The mean radius of gyration (Rg) for SPI (aq) is 20 nm and increases up to 30 nm in o/w emulsions; the proteins act as amphiphilic molecules by exposing their hydrophobic core to the oil and their hydrophilic amino acid residues to the water phase. By spray drying the emulsions, it was also possible to measure the size (Rg = 40 nm) and to evaluate the morphology of these proteins at the oil/air interface of the respective microcapsules. The walls of microcapsules are fractals of clustered objects with rough surfaces, which are smoothed by the presence of a cross-linking agent

Polyurethane nanoparticles from a natural polyol via miniemulsion technique

Original natural trio] (castor oil) was used as a monomer for the synthesis of monodisperse polyurethane nanoparticles (size ranging from 200 to 400 nm) by miniemulsion technique in water. Various parameters such as the concentration of the reactants, the nature of stabilizers and the shear were tuned to control the particle size and its distribution. The polyaddition between the natural triol and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) was conducted at 60 degrees C, in the absence of catalyst and monitored by infrared spectroscopy. The characterization of these polyurethane latexes was carried out using light scattering measurements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

The role of surfactant in the miniemulsion polymerization of biodegradable polyurethane nanoparticles

The influence of surfactant type and concentration on particle size, formulation yield and stability of the polyurethane (PUR) nanoparticles synthesized by miniemulsion polymerization was investigated. SDS, Tween 80 and Pluronic F68 were employed as surfactants in concentration ranging from 5 to 20% (vs monomer concentration). The surfactant SDS was found not efficient in our system, resulting in a low formulation yield (about 53%), two particle size distributions and zeta potential equal to - 52.3mV. On the other hand, the nonionic surfactants gave monomodal particle size distribution, good yields (> 85%) and zeta potential around to- 24mV. The particles synthesized with Tween 80 or Pluronic F68 were very similar to each other in terms of efficiency, particle size distribution and zeta potential. For instance, the particle diameter slightly decreases from 292nm to 261nm as the amount of Tween 80 surfactant increases from 5 to 20wt.% vs monomer. Moreover, we have observed that a concentration of at least 5wt. % of Tween 80 was necessary to favor particle stability and therefore to avoid aggregation

Evaluation of DNA damage and cytotoxicity of polyurethane-based nano- and microparticles as promising biomaterials for drug delivery systems

The in vitro cytotoxicity and DNA damage evaluation of biodegradable polyurethane-based micro- and nanoparticles were carried out on animal fibroblasts. For cytotoxicity measurement and primary DNA damage evaluation, MTT and Comet assays were used, respectively. Different formulations were tested to evaluate the influence of chemical composition and physicochemical characteristics of particles on cell toxicity. No inhibition of cells growth surrounding the polyurethane particles was observed. On the other hand, a decrease of cell viability was verified when the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was used as droplets stabilizer of monomeric phase. Polyurethane nanoparticles stabilized with Tween 80 and Pluronic F68 caused minor cytotoxic effects. These results indicated that the surface charge plays an important role on cytotoxicity. Particles synthesized from MDI displayed a higher cytotoxicity than those synthesized from IPDI. Size and physicochemical properties of the particles may explain the higher degree of DNA damage produced by two tested formulations. In this way, a rational choice of particles' constituents based on their cytotoxicity and genotoxicity could be very useful for conceiving biomaterials to be used as drug delivering systems