Drug delivery with solvent-free synthesized polyimide-COF/amino-functionalized MCM-41 nanohybrid

Abstract

The present study focuses on a covalent organic framework-based (COF) nanohybrid as a new drug delivery system for erythromycin (E) antibiotic with a desirable loading capacity and controlled release rate. Solvent-free synthesis of PI-COF (polyimide-COF) plus pre-synthesized amino-functionalized MCM-41 resulted in a nanohybrid structure of improved textural properties as a drug delivery system (DDS) with considerable biocompatibility. The environmentally friendly, economical, and ease-execution melting method was employed for erythromycin incorporation in DDS. Results represent an increased loading efficiency of the pure covalent organic framework (86.86%) and the nanohybrid mode (56.2%) DDSs compared to other parallel structures reported. The release studies of erythromycin were performed in a simulated body environment (phosphate buffer solution (PBS) medium, pH = 7.4) at 37 ± 1 °C. Furthermore, the antibiotic-loaded DDSs were investigated for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) strains. The [email protected] attained a prolonged and sustained drug release (a maximum release of 69.7% for 50 h) and displayed potent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. Zero and First-order, Higuchi, Hixson-Crowell, and Korsmeyer-Peppas kinetic models were applied to describe the release profile of erythromycin. Fitting mathematical models to the experimental data indicated Fickian and non-Fickian diffusion kinetics for nanohybrid sample and individual monomers, respectively.