Water-soluble as well as bio-compatible acryloyl chitosan-grafted piperazinium polymers stabilized zinc oxide nanoparticles and their anticancer study

The present study reports five different water-soluble as well as bio-compatible acryloyl chitosan-grafted-[2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethyl ammonium chloride acryloyl piperazinium chloride-based polymers (AC-g-P(DMC-APCP)). These polymers were employed as supporting agents for preparing the spherical-shaped zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) by a simple chemical translation method in an alkaline medium at 70 °C. The various spectral and microscopic techniques (UV–visible, FT-IR, Raman, XRD, Photoluminescence (PL), FESEM, and HR-TEM) were employed to characterize acryloyl chitosan-grafted-[2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethyl ammonium chloride acryloyl piperazinium chloride-based polymers stabilized zinc oxide nanoparticles (AC-g-P(DMC-APCP)SZO NPs). The UV-visible (λ_max = 343–345 nm) and band gap energy calculation (3.25–3.29 eV) reveal the blue shift from that of bulk compound (λ_max = 380 nm) and decreased particle size. The FT-IR, Raman, XRD, and FESEM studies confirm the construction of wurtzite-structure ZnO NPs by the supporting agent AC-g-P(DMC-APCP). The fluorescence behavior of AC-g-P(DMC-APCP)SZO NPs (λ_Emi ≈ 550 nm) was examined by PL. The particle size of AC-g-P(DMC-APCP)SZO NPs (≈ 25 nm) was confirmed by HR-TEM. The AC-g-P(DMC-APCP)SZO NPs were investigated for their anticancer behavior against A549 lung cancer cell lines. They were found to exhibit better anticancer activity when compared to the uncapped ZnO (UC-ZnO).