CARBON NANOTUBE-CHITOSAN COMPOSITES AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME

摘要

Carbon nano tube-chitosan composite formed by covalent bonding is provided to noticeably improve bio-compatibility and solvent dispersion capability, thereby being advantageously applied to gene delivery system, by endowing acidic property to carbon nano tube through amide bond of amine compound and covalently bonding the nano tube to chitosan to produce the composite. The process of forming the composite includes the steps of: (i) incorporating carboxylic group to carbon nano-tube by mixing nitric acid and carbon nano-tube then carrying out reflux of the mixture; (ii) substituting the incorporated carboxylic group with -COCl group by filtering the obtained carbon nano tube, washing the tube with distilled water to have pH7, drying the treated tube, adding SOCl2 to the tube and refluxing the treated tube; (iii) preparing carbon nano tube-chitosan composite by filtering the nano tube with incorporation of -COCl group, washing the tube with anhydrous CH2Cl2, drying the treated tube, adding acetic acid containing dissolved chitosan to the tube and refuxing the treated mixture; and (iv) removing unreacted chitosan by washing the composite with acetic acid, filtering and washing the composite with distilled water to have pH7.