Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan-Lauric Acid Derivative: Antibacterial Activity and Drug Delivery Study.

The present study focussed on chitosan-lauric acid derivatized matrix for drug delivery. Lauric acid being the fatty acid with aliphatic chain homologue -CH₂- (n=10) enhances the chemical properties of chitosan in drug delivery. Ciprofloxacin has been taken as a model drug for the release study. Lauric improved the permeability of the incorporated drug compounds. The chitosan derivative was characterized by FTIR, XRD and DSC measurement techniques and drug release study was performed by UV spectrophotometrically. The chitosan derivative shows good antibacterial activity. The release study of drug at first two hours was maximum (about 30%) and then it releases slowly. The initial burst release of drug may be due to the drug which exists on the surface of the film without being entrapped efficiently. CS-LA drug composite shows 80.2% drug release at 48 h while CS-CF composite (control) shows 83.26% drug release at 48 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]