Thiolated okra chitosan nanoparticles: preparation and optimisation as intranasal drug delivery agents

Aim The preparation of thiolated okra gum by use of full factorial design to optimise the reaction conditions.Methods Thiolated gum was obtained by esterification optimised by full factorial design. The effect of varying the thiolated Okra concentration, chitosan concentration, pH, and stirring speed on particle size, entrapment efficiency and zeta potential was observed using Box–Behnken design.Results Maximum yield and degree of substitution were obtained at reaction time of 152 min, 6.73 ml of thioglycolic acid and 70 °C of temperature. The optimised calculated parameters were thiolated okra concentrations of (0.07% w/v), chitosan concentration (0.05% w/v), pH (3), stirring speed (4430 rpm), which yielded nanoparticles of size 294.3 ± 0.3 nm, 43.57 ± 1.21% entrapment and 23.29 ± 2.3 mV of Zeta potential.Conclusion NPs were observed to be promising for brain targeting.