EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF PLANT BYPRODUCTS FOR SYNTHESIZING CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE NANOPARTICLES: A STUDY ON CHARACTERIZATION, PHYSICAL PROPERTIES, AND IN VIVO TOXICITY

Abstract

The research involved the extraction of cellulose (C) from agricultural waste such as rice husk and the creation of nano-cellulose (NC) using Acid hydrolysis and Ultrasound method. Subsequently, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and carboxymethyl Nano Cellulose (NCMC) were prepared using Alkalization and Etherification method. The team analyzed several properties of the compounds, which included the natural polymers' size measured using a Size Analyzer, resulting in 35865.7 nm for CMC. The percentage of nanopolymers yield was also calculated and noted a decline, from 37.36% for CMC to 26.48% for NCMC. FT-IR spectroscopy device was used to identify the functional groups, indicating a higher degree of substitution for NCMC (0.630%) than for natural polymers CMC (0.573%). The structure and size of polymer nanoparticles were examined using AFM, and FESEM, devices, and the diameters ranged from 30.90-49.65 nm for NCMC. The study also analyzed physical properties such as viscosity, which was observed to decrease for nanopolymers compared to natural-sized polymers (80.33 and 52.23 for CMC and NCMC, respectively), and water binding capacity, which decreased for nanopolymers compared to natural-sized polymers (725.42% and 540.76% for CMC and NCMC, respectively). Fat binding capacity was also studied, and it was found to be 511.35% and 230.25% for CMC and NCMC, respectively. The study concluded that NCMC was non-toxic at concentrations ranging from 100-1000 µg/ml.