Poly(rutin) p(RT) particles were prepared for the first time via a simple microemulsion polymerization/crosslinking method using l-α lecithin as surfactant, cyclohexane as organic phase and glycerol diglycidyl ether (GDE) as a crosslinking agent. Highly negatively charged p(RT) particles, -48.2 mV, were obtained due to phenolic groups on the particles. It was also confirmed that p(RT) particles are thermally more stable than RT and degradable in PBS at pH7.4., e.g., 11 wt.% can degrade in 1 day and little further degradation was observed over 9 days. The prepared p(RT) particles showed insignificant antibacterial characteristics against common bacteria such as Escherichia coli ATCC8739, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538, and Bacillus subtilis ATCC6633 whereas the RT molecules showed significantly better antibacterial characteristics even at low concentrations. Moreover, p(RT) particles were demonstrated for use as drug delivery devices by loading rosmarinic acid (RA) as model drug and showed release capability for up to 6 days by releasing 85% of the loaded RA. Intriguingly, p(RT) particles illustrated enhanced fluorescent properties providing great potential for fluorescent active antioxidant and antibacterial materials in biomedical use.
Keywords: Antioxidant particles; Crosslinked poly(rutin) particles; Fluorescent particles; Natural microgel/nanogel.
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