Utilization of TBDMS chitosan for synthesis of photoactive chitosan derivatives and application in photografting on ophthalmic lens material

Three photoactive chitosan derivatives were synthesized using TBDMS chitosan as the starting material. In this study, we also report an optimized method for producing relatively high average molecular weight chitosan precursors for the synthesis of the three N-modified chitosan derivatives having a N-azidobenzoyl group, a N-methacryloyl group and a N-azidobenzoyl-N',N',N'-(acetyl-trimethyl ammoniumyl) group. The methacryloyl and azidobenzoyl derivatives synthesized were photografted onto discs of a crosslinked polymethacrylate copolymer used in the industrial production of intraocular lenses (IOLs), with dimensions comparable to those of IOLs. The photografted polymethacrylate was loaded with the antibiotic moxifloxacin, allowing the creation of an antibiotic releasing system that may be further developed for an application in postoperative endophthalmitis prophylaxis.