Sulfated N-(carboxymethyl)chitosans: novel blood anticoagulants.

N-(Carboxymethyl)chitosan was subjected to sulfation in a mixture of concentrated sulfuric acid (oleum) and N,N-dimethylformamide, under anhydrous conditions. The resulting product contained 11% of sulfur and degree of substitution: N-acetyl, 42%; N-carboxymethyl, 58%; and sulfate, 100%. Sonication of the sulfated N-(carboxymethyl)chitosan gave two main fractions whose molecular weights were 39,000 and 80,000. In human blood, complexes of sulfated N-(carboxymethyl)chitosan and antithrombin inhibited both thrombin and factor Xa, and produced neither hemolysis nor alterations in erythrocytes and lymphocytes. Sulfated N-(carboxymethyl)chitosan is therefore proposed as a blood anticoagulant.