Polysaccharide-based nano-capsules for advanced delivery of active agents in agriculture and food

Much attention is given to materials that can self-assemble into nano-scaled aggregates based on biopolymers. It is suggested that such “smart” materials can be highly potential for applications, ranging from drug delivery trough gene therapy to tissue engineering. One of the developing fields in which smart systems are being applied is agriculture, due to the potential for improvement of plant uptake efficiency of materials supplied. One of the basic elements for preparing these "smart" materials are amphiphilic polymers, which can self-assemble into nano-scaled aggregates that have the ability to encapsulate hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules at their cores. Such polymers could be suitable for the development of delivery systems in both aqueous and organic environment by changes in the assembly structure. Using biopolymers and especially polysaccharide as skeleton for the nano-carriers provide natural contribution that enable non-toxic, antimicrobial, biodegradability and biocompatibility.

In this research, we present a novel design for efficient and simple synthesis of amphiphilic derivatives polysaccharide composed of chitosan and aliphatic chains. These amphiphilic polysaccharide self-assemble in aqueous and organic media into nano-containers, which can encapsulated versatile molecular cargo. The encapsulated guests and the release rate could be tuned by the aliphatic chains length, which effect on the assembly structure. Such smart amphiphilic polysaccharides could potentially be applied for the fabrication of nano-carriers with adjustable cargo and release rates for controlled delivery applications.