Stearoyl chitosan (SC), derived from the acylation of
chitosan,
contributes to the efficiency of drug delivery systems because of
its structure, which accommodates the drug in a particle. Nonetheless,
its role in chemotherapy has been largely unexplored. The present
study involves the synthesis of stearoyl chitosan through the reaction
of depolymerized chitosan with stearoyl chloride under mild reaction
conditions. The resulting compound was subjected to structural analysis
utilizing Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, 1H NMR, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. The dispersion of
SC molecules in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) forms SC nanoparticles.
The best dispersion of SC in the solution was achieved at a 1:60 chitosan-to-stearoyl
chloride weight ratio. Three antimetabolite drugs, methotrexate, pemetrexed,
and raltitrexed, were selected to examine the loading efficacy of
SC. Pemetrexed had the highest drug-loading value of 36.8% among the
three antimetabolites incorporated into SC, along with an encapsulation
efficiency of 85.1%. The size of SC loaded with antimetabolites ranged
from 225 to 369 nm, and their spherical form was verified via a transmission
electron microscope. The in vitro release study showed that SC demonstrated
controlled drug release, suggesting that SC nanoparticles have significant
promise as a delivery strategy for chemotherapy.