Synthesis and characterization of calcium alginate nanoparticles, sodium homopolymannuronate salt and its calcium nanoparticles

Calcium alginate nanoparticles as excellent carriers in drug delivery systems were synthesized by controlled gellification method and characterized with Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). To compare mean particle size and distribution of calcium alginate nanoparticles with homopolymannuronate ones, later nanoparticles were prepared through the same conditions. Sodium homopolymannuronate is one of the ingredients of alginate polymer which was synthesized and purified by partial acid hydrolysis of sodium alginate and characterized with FTIR spectroscopy. Results showed significant improvement of size and distribution of calcium alginate nanoparticles with decrease of sodium alginate and increase of calcium cation concentrations, respectively. In addition, lower mean particle size and better distribution of calcium homopolymannuronate nanoparticles was observed in comparison with calcium alginate ones. This result may refer to the ionic interaction of calcium crosslinker ions with regular homopolymeric chains of homopolymannuronate compared to no regular chains of alginate polymer.