Development of synthesis method of magnetic nanoparticles modified by oleic acid and chitosan as a candidate for drug delivery agent

In this study, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with a combination of oleic acid and chitosan were synthesizedby ex situ and in situ coprecipitation methods. Morphology and particle size, crystal structure and crystallite size,chemical structure, and magnetic saturation were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-raydiffraction (XRD), Fourrier transform infrared, and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. SEMimages showed that better spherical morphology is obtained by ex situ co-precipitation method. The XRD patternidentified that nanoparticles containing Fe3O4 and γ-Fe2O3. The particles and crystallite size of the nanoparticles tendedto decrease with increasing oleic acid to the optimum composition. Further functionalization through the chitosanaddition (crosslinked by Tripolyphosphate/sulfate) is contributed to the hydrophilicity properties of nanoparticles.Through VSM analysis, MNPs-oleic acid-chitosan showed superparamagnetic behavior with magnetic saturationreaching 32.63 emu/g. There was a linear correlation between magnetic saturation and Fe3O4 content of nanoparticles.Drug loading and drug release were carried out by using Doxorubicin. These nanoparticles showed a high drug loadingefficiency with lower chitosan composition. Loading efficiency of Doxorubicin is related to the conjugation withcarboxylic groups and hydrophobic sites from oleic acid and MNPs