Abstract
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles MCM – 41 were synthesized with two dimensional hexagonal p6mm symmetry, high specific surface area(~ 980m2/g) narrow pore size and an average particle size of 186 nm. The produced nanoparticles were used to encapsulate carbamazepine through a supercritical carbon dioxide process combined with various organic solvents. Supercritical processing was found to provide increased drug encapsulation. The loaded MCM - 41 nanoparticles were analyzed using X–ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to investigate the crystalline state of the encapsulated carbamazepine and it was found to be dependent on the nature of the organic solvent. Carbamazepine showed increased dissolution rates under sink conditions. Viability studies of Caco – 2 cells demonstrated negligible cytotoxicity for the MCM–41 nanoparticles.
Highlights
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have attracted the attention of several scientists over the last decade due to their potential applications
MCM–41 nanoparticles were prepared by the sol–gel process using CTAB as the structure directing agent similar to Huo et al [2]
The morphology of the produced nanoparticles was studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis
Summary
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have attracted the attention of several scientists over the last decade due to their potential applications. For first time MSNs were used as drug delivery system by Valet–Regi [4] to encapsulate Ibuprofen in MCM–41 of various pore sizes. In several occasions MSNs have been reported to control the release profile or to enhance the solubility of various active substances [5,8]. The MSNs pore size can be designed slightly larger than the dimension of the drug molecule and to provide sustained release for several hours [9]. MSNs have been used as drug delivery systems of both water insoluble [15] and water soluble anticancer agents [16] by providing controlled release in the cell compartments. In the current study we investigated the encapsulation of carbamazepine (CBZ) in MCM–41 nanoparticles by using supercritical CO2 processing. We report the effect of CO2 processing on the crystallinity of the active substance and how this could induce changes on the polymorphic CBZ forms
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