A study on size effect of carboxymethyl starch nanogel crosslinked by electron beam radiation

The formation of carboxymethyl starch (CMS) nanogel with 50 nm less particle size was carried out through a radiation crosslinked process on the electron beam (EB) linear accelerator. Changes of intrinsic viscosities and weight averaged molecular weight in the CMS concentration, which ranged from 3 to 10 mg ml^?1 in absorbed doses were investigated. There were some new peaks in the ¹H NMR spectra of CMS nanogel compared with those of CMS polymer. These results were anticipated that the predominant intramolecular crosslinking of dilute CMS aqueous solution occurred while being exposed to a short intense pulse of ionizing radiation. Hydrodynamic radius (often called particle size, R_h) and distribution of particle size were measured by a dynamic light scattering technique. The radiation yield of intermolecular crosslinking of CMS solution was calculated from the expression of G_x (Charlesby, 1960, Jung-Chul, 2010). The influence of the “size effect” was demonstrated by testing culture of Lactobacillus bacteria on MRS agar culture medium containing CMS nanogel and polymer. Results showed that the number of Lactobacillus bacteria growing on nanogel containing culture medium is about 170 cfu/ml and on polymer containing culture medium is only 6 cfu/ml.