Surfactant-assisted sol-gel synthesis and characterization of hierarchical nanoporous merwinite with controllable drug release.

Abstract: The aim of this research is to suggest both new and efficient synthesis method for preparation of pure phase nanoporous merwinite ((Ca₃Mg(SiO₄)₂), NM) bioceramics and assess their in vitro drug delivery potential. Surfactant-assisted sol-gel method is used to produce NM using cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide (CTAB) as a surfactant agent. The XRD results showed that a single-phase merwinite is obtained after calcination at 850 °C. Both the FESEM and N₂ adsorption desorption results exhibited that the samples have hierarchical porous structure ranging from 25 nm to 3.5 μm. Potential application of the synthesized calcium-magnesium-silicate samples as a drug delivery agent is studied by estimating their ibuprofen release properties up to 180 h. This study revealed that NM is produced by surfactant-assisted sol-gel method at lower calcination temperature compared to other studies and the synthesized samples can be used as a promising local drug delivery system.Pure phase nanoporous merwinite was synthesized via surfactant-assisted sol-gel method. Potential application of the synthesized calcium-magnesium-silicate samples as a drug delivery agent was studied. This study revealed that merwinite is produced at lower calcination temperature compared to other studies and the synthesized samples can be used as a promising local drug delivery system. In this study, for the first time a simple and efficient strategy is developed to synthesize both nanoporous and pure phase merwinite as a new local drug delivery system.The results showed that single-phase nanoporous merwinite was synthesized by surfactant-assisted sol-gel method.Nanoporous samples had a hierarchical porous structure ranging from 25 nm to 3.5 μm.Samples showed sustained drug release up to 180 h and could be used as a promising drug delivery system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]