Piperazine and its carboxylic acid derivatives-functionalized mesoporous silica as nanocarriers for gemcitabine: Adsorption and release study

• Piperazine-functionalized SBA-15 nanorods (P-SBA-15) were synthesized.
• The carboxylic acid derivatives of P-SBA-15 were prepared.
• These materials were used as nanocarriers for anticancer drug delivery.
• The surface functionalization increase the loading content of the drug.
• The functionalized samples show significant decrease of the drug release rate.

Piperazine-functionalized SBA-15 nanorods were synthesized by post grafting method with methyldimethoxysilylpropylpiperazine (MDSP). The carboxylic acid derivatives of piperazine-functionalized SBA-15 nanorods were obtained using two different kinds of precursors (bromoacetic acid and succinic anhydride). The prepared materials were used as nanocarriers for the anticancer drug (gemcitabine). The obtained samples were characterized by SAXS, N2 adsorption-desorption, SEM, TEM, DLS, thermogravimetric analysis, FTIR, Raman and UV spectroscopies. The adsorption and release properties of all samples were investigated. In vitro study included cell toxicity. It was found that the surface functionalization increases the interaction between the carrier and gemcitabine and results in the loading enhancement of the drug. In addition, the adsorption of gemcitabine on the modified mesoporous matrix depends on the type of the introduced functional groups. The carboxylic acid-modified samples have higher loading content, due to the strong interaction with gemcitabine. The maximum content of deposited drug in the modified SBA-15 nanorods is close to 36 wt.% that it is related to PC2-SBA-15 sample which obtained using succinic anhydride. The obtained results reveal that the surface functionalization leads toward a significant decrease of the drug release rate without any appreciable cytotoxicity. No significant differences are observed among the drug release rate from the modified samples.