Abstract
The current work describes the development of new mesoporous silica
nanoparticles (MSNs) containing a high content of phenyl groups
(hydrophobic species) inside the mesopores and externally functionalized
with polyethylene glycol (PEG), a hydrophilic moiety, to provide
biocompatibility and colloidal stability. The MSNs were encapsulated
with curcumin, a versatile hydrophobic drug for biological use. The
ability of silica nanoparticles to optimize the solubility of this
biologically-active molecule in water was investigated. Nanoparticles
were characterized using C-13 and Si-29 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
(NMR), thermal analysis (TGA and DTA), nitrogen sorption analysis,
transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS)
and zeta potential (PZ). We assessed the curcumin water solubility using
the pegylated nanoparticles as well as the influence of the PEG chain
length (500 and 2000 Da) and its concentration on the encapsulation
process. The results indicate that the higher the PEG chain length the
lower the MSN encapsulation capacity for curcumin, possibly due to
steric factors. However, all of the nanoparticles largely improved
curcumin solubility in water.
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