Formation and Characterization of Chitosan-Based Polyelectrolyte Complex Containing Antifungal Phenylpropanoids.

In this work, a novel chitosan-based polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) was prepared using chitosan as the cationic polyelectrolyte, while a potassium salt of poly(maleic anhydride-alt-tetradecene) (PMA-14) served as the anionic counterpart. These PECs were used for the encapsulation of two nitroeugenol derivatives: 4-allyl-2-methoxy-6-nitrophenol () and 2-allyl-6-nitrophenol (). The results confirm complex formation and efficient encapsulation of active compounds. Encapsulation efficiency (EE) was influenced by the chemical structure of the compounds, with 32.18% EE for and 20.36% EE for . The resulting systems were characterized by fluorescence probing techniques, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and zeta potential. On the other hand, antifungal assays revealed that, in free form, exhibits a much higher activity against than . However, no effect of encapsulation of both compounds on antifungal performance was observed. Results from molecular dynamic studies indicate that a stabilization effect is induced by compounds and during PEC formation, which is attributed to specific interactions between polyelectrolytes and guest molecules. These results are in line with the EE values measured for and and explain the low release from PECs of these molecules. Thus, the potential development of PEC-based systems for the delivery of bioactive compounds requires a deeper comprehension of parameters determining the relationship between encapsulation efficiency and delivery kinetics.