Chapter 14: Chitosan-based nanocomposites: promising materials for drug delivery applications

ONNAINTY, RENÉE; GRANERO, GLADYS E.

Biomedical applications of nanoparticles.

Elsevier

Año: 2019; p. 375 - 404

In the pharmaceutical area, ?nanocomposites? formed by the combination betweennatural polymers and mineral clays have attracted the attention of many researchers (Aguzzi et al., 2007). These materials obtained by two or more solid phases are called composites. Most of these hybrid materials are prepared by combining a polymer and a solid inorganic compound. Within this group are the nanocomposites, named so because at least one of their components is found as dispersed particles whose size is in the order of nanometers.These complex materials have the characteristics of combining the properties oftheir organic and inorganic components, such as swelling, mechanical, thermal, and bioadhesion properties (G?unister et al., 2007). A wide variety of polymers are used to obtain nanocomposites, such as polylactic acid (PLA); polycaprolactone (PCL); proteins; and polysaccharides, like as chitosan (CS), alginate (ALG), and starch. When these materials are combined with microfibrous clay minerals like silicates, sepiolite, and palygorskite, they can get veryinteresting characteristics. Thus, it is preferred to use natural polymers when these nanocomposites are used for medical applications or for packing food. Because they are recyclable and biodegradable, these materials are called ?green composites? or ?bionanocomposites,? especially when the inorganic component is a silicate (Darder and Ruiz-hitzky, 2007).Particularly in pharmaceutical applications, hybrid materials obtained by thecombination of clay minerals and biopolymers have aroused much interest(Viseras et al., 2010), especially when they are used for antibacterial coatings for medical instruments and wound dressings, for drug delivery systems, or for improving optical properties in the field of medical imaging (Besinis et al., 2015).