Abstract:
This research studied on the improvement of the solubility of chitosan in alcoholic solutions to form a film via film-forming systems (FFS) for turmeric extract (TE) releasing. Chitosan was chemically modified by p-methoxybenzaldehyde (PMB) and acrylic acid via reductive amination and Michael addition reaction, respectively. The results of chemical structure elucidation of chitosan derivatives (CB2A) revealed new peaks in FT-IR and 1H-NMR, which confirmed the presence of p-methoxybenzene ring and carbonyl group in the structure of CB2A. The degree of substitution (% DS) of PMB and acrylic acid from 1H-NMR technique was 27.9% and 33.8% and from EA technique was 27.9% and 43.5%, respectively. XRD result of CB2A showed the decrease in crystallinity which was transformed into amorphous form. CB2A was also found to dissolve well in 60%v/v alcohol, which is suitable for use as film-forming polymer via FFS technique. The TE, CD-TE or CDTE were then mixed with CB2A alcoholic solution to form CB2A-TE, CB2A-CD-TE, and CB2A-CDTE films, respectively. All films were found to be non-toxic to HaCaT cells. CB2A-CDTE film showed a smooth, non-phased separated surface and was able to release TE for 74%, which higher than CB2A-CD-TE (59.1%) and CB2A-TE (44%) films. In addition, CB2A and CB2A-CDTE in ethanol solution (30-50%) was able to form thin films on human skin and dry within ~6-9 minutes. As results, CB2A-CDTE in ethanol solution is suitable for film-forming via FFS technique to help protect the skin and release the drug.