Nanoparticles Synthesis from Corn Cob (Xylan) and Their Potential Application as Colon-Specific Drug Carrier

Summary: Corn Cob based Xylan, a natural polysaccharide extracted from agro-waste may be used as a tool to deliver drugs especially to the colon because of their timely retention in the physiological environment of stomach and small intestine and can only be degraded in colon by vast anaerobic microflora like bifidobacterium. The objective of present research study is to incorporate the drug namely 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) into xylan macromolecular backbone, either by surface adsorption or by intermolecular covalent bond formation so that absorption of drugs is prevented in upper gastrointestinal tract (GIT). To achieve the above objective, xylan prodrug of 5-ASA was synthesized via activation of carboxylic acid with N,N-carbonyldiimidazole. The structure of obtained xylan prodrug was evaluated by means FT-IR spectroscopy. The ester carbonyl absorption band was observed at 1690 cm⁻¹ in addition to the bands originated from 5-ASA and xylan. The resulting prodrug and xylan itself assembled into spherical nanoparticles were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The prodrug of 5-ASA was synthesized which might be active against inflammatory bowel diseases, a novel thought towards advanced drug delivery from xylan based nanoparticles will be presented.