46 Investigation of the Controlled Release Behavior of … (Ghafouri Taleghani et al.) Iranian Chemical Engineering Journal – Vol. 23 - No. 135 (2024): 46-58 Research Article DOI: 10.22034/ijche.2023.401459.1320 Investigation of the Controlled Release Behavior of Amoxicillin from Dextran Hydrogels H. R. Ghafouri Taleghani 1 , H. Salimi Kenari 1* , M. Cheraghi 2 1- Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Mazandaran 2- M. Sc. Student of Chemical Engineering, University of Mazandaran Email: H.Salimi@umz.ac.ir Abstract Dextran is a biodegradable polymer used in medical applications such as wound dressings, artificial skin, and drug delivery carriers. In this study, dextran-based biodegradable hydrogels were prepared through crosslinking reactions using Epichlorohydrin as the crosslinking agent and were used as a drug delivery system for amoxicillin. The prepared hydrogel structure was investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The swelling behavior of the hydrogels was studied in both deionized water and simulated gastric (pH=2) and intestinal (pH=7.4) environments. The results showed that the maximum swelling of the hydrogel after 8 hours was 858%. Fick and Schott models were used to study the swelling kinetics of the hydrogels. Furthermore, the effect of crosslinking agent concentration and temperature on the swelling behavior of the hydrogel was also studied. Moreover, amoxicillin drug was loaded into the hydrogels, and its release from the hydrogels was evaluated in a phosphate buffer solution. The drug release from different samples was studied for a period of 72 hours, and the obtained data were fitted with various kinetic models. The results showed that the hydrogel prepared with 18% Epichlorohydrin and 10% amoxicillin loading was a suitable candidate for a drug delivery system. Received: 9 June 2023 Accepted: 1 November 2023 Page Number: 46-58 Keywords: Dextran, Drug Release, Hydrogel, Biodegradable, Amoxicillin  Please Cite this Article Using: Ghafouri Taleghani, H. R., Salimi Kkenari, H., & Cheraghi, M. (2024). Investigation of the Controlled Release Behavior of Amoxicillin from Dextran Hydrogels. Iranian Chemical Engineering Journal, 23(135), 46-58, [In Persian]. This journal is an open access journal licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).