Controlled hydrophobic/hydrophilic chitosan: colloidal phenomena and nanosphere formation

N-Phthaloylchitosan-grafted poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether (mPEG) gives a milky solution when dispersed in water and a series of solvents. The appearance of turbidity depends on the types of solvents, i.e., protic and aprotic solvents. N-Phthaloylchitosan-grafted mPEG shows an aggregation of sphere-like particles as observed by scanning electron microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy indicates that the spheres are at the nano level. When the chain length of mPEG is as high as 5x10(3) Da the sphere size becomes as small as 80-100 nm on average as observed by transmission electron microscopy. By simply adjusting the hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity of the chitosan chain, a stable nanosphere can be obtained directly.