Synthesis and Characterization of Oligochitosan Guanidine

EXAMPLE 1

OCG was synthesized and the average molecular weight of OCG was confirmed by both gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR) spectroscopy (FIG. 1), indicating that the number of CG repeating unit is ˜7. The pKa of OCG was determined as ˜5 (FIG. 2), indicating that the OCG backbone is neutral in the physiological condition while the two chain end groups (i.e., secondary amine and guanidine, FIG. 3) are positively charged. Nonhemolytic OCG showed no indication of decreased cell viability of a murine macrophage (i.e., J774) and a human liver carcinoma cell line (i.e., Hep G2) up to 200 μg/mL (FIG. 4).