Purpose: The aim of this work was to study the preparation of nanospheres from amphiphilic beta-cyclodextrins formed (a) by different acylation degrees (DA) at the secondary hydroxyl face (DA=14 and 21) followed by varying (b) the sulfatation degrees (DS) at the primary hydroxyl face (DS=0, 4 and 7).
Methods: The physicochemical properties of the synthesized compounds such as molecular weights, the theoretical HLB values and the critical micellar concentration values and their surface area were presented. The nanoparticles prepared from amphiphilic beta-cyclodextrins were characterized by mean size, zeta potential and their morphology.
Results: The compounds presented hydrophile-lipophile balance values ranging from 5.6 to 10. For sulfated amphiphilic beta-cyclodextrins having HLB values higher than 8, were able to self-organize in water to form nanoparticles. However, for the amphiphilic beta-cyclodextrins that HLB values lower than 6.6 are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents rendering possible the preparation of nanoparticles by nanoprecipitation technique.
Conclusion: An interesting correlation between the amphiphilic-beta-cyclodextrin structures and their ability to form nanospheres has been established. The association of sulfated amphiphilic-beta-CDs to the peracylated amphiphilic-beta-CDs was interesting, it led to improve the stability of nanospheres size and probably confer them a biological activity.