Synthesis and Evaluation of Alginate-Based Nanogels as Sustained Drug Carriers for Caffeine

The objective of this study is to design a polymericnetwork ofnanogels for sustained release of caffeine. Therefore, alginate-basednanogels were fabricated by a free-radical polymerization techniquefor the sustained delivery of caffeine. Polymer alginate was crosslinkedwith monomer 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid by crosslinker N & PRIME;,N & PRIME;-methylene bisacrylamide.The prepared nanogels were subjected to sol-gel fraction, polymervolume fraction, swelling, drug loading, and drug release studies.A high gel fraction was seen with the increasing feed ratio of polymer,monomer, and crosslinker. Greater swelling and drug release were observedat pH 4.6 and 7.4 as compared to pH 1.2 due to the deprotonation andprotonation of functional groups of alginate and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonicacid. An increase was observed in swelling, loading, and release ofthe drug with the incorporation of a high feed ratio of polymer andmonomer, while a reduction was seen with the increase in crosslinkerfeed ratio. Similarly, an HET-CAM test was used to evaluate the safetyof the prepared nanogels, which showed that the prepared nanogelshave no toxic effect on the chorioallantoic membrane of fertilizedchicken eggs. Similarly, different characterizations techniques suchas FTIR, DSC, SEM, and particle size analysis were carried out todetermine the development, thermal stability, surface morphology,and particle size of the synthesized nanogels, respectively. Thus,we can conclude that the prepared nanogels can be used as a suitableagent for the sustained release of caffeine.