pH and Salt Responsive Hydrogel based on Guar Gum as a Renewable Material for Delivery of Curcumin: A Natural Anti-Cancer Drug

The manuscript represents synthesis of pH and salt responsive hydrogel based on guar gum as a renewable substrate for drug delivery of natural anticancer drug i.e. curcumin. Initially acrylic acid grafted guar gum (GG-g-PAA) hydrogel was obtained in the presence of ammonium persulphate as a redox initiator. Structural stability of grafted copolymer was improved using N, N-methylenebisacrylamide as a crosslinker with simultaneous loading of curcumin as a natural anticancer drug. Delivery rate of curcumin from GG-g-PAA was studied by UV spectrophotometer. The neat and drug loaded hydrogels were characterized using FTIR, NMR, TGA, and SEM techniques for their structural, morphological, and thermal behaviours. Swelling of the hydrogels and water diffusion properties were studied in salt and aqueous solutions of different pH. Finally, the fabricated hydrogel matrices were tested for curcumin release studies to understand the release kinetic. The results indicated that the prepared renewable source based hydrogel can be used in drug delivery of curcumin as a natural medicine. As curcumin and guar gum are products of agricultural food crops viz. turmeric and guar, the current research can be a good contribution towards preparation of an eco-friendly drug delivery system based on agriculture products.