ABSTRACT
Much research activity continues to be directed towards finding novel self-assembling biopolymers to form nanostructures for different applications. One such example is N-alkyl-N-dimethyl/N-alkyl-N-trimethyl chitosan,2 which is capable of forming polymeric micelles in water with an average particle diameter ranging from 36 to 218 nm. Both the length of the alkyl group and the degree of N-trimethylation affect the size of the polymeric micelles (Zhang et al., 2006). Additional research is required to investigate further the possible utilization of these chitosan-derived nanomaterials in controlled release and targeted delivery of bioactive compounds. In the medical field, it has already been shown that N-alkylO-sulfate chitosan is able to form self-assembling nanomicelles that can be used as a vehicle for solubilization and slow release of paclitaxel, a hydrophobic anticancer compound (Zhang et al., 2004).
