Solvent strategies for loading and release in mesoporous silica

• Mesoporous silica is loaded more efficiently by liquid carbon dioxide than by c-hexane or methanol.
• Ibuprofen is released much faster from mesoporous silica than from a crystalline state or a drug.
• Careful analysis of the adsorption isotherms yields a better understanding of the loading process.

A model molecule, ibuprofen, was loaded in the pores of mesoporous silica by adsorption from nonpolar solvents (liquid carbon dioxide and cyclohexane) and from a polar solvent (methanol). It was sufficient with a very low concentration of ibuprofen in the nonpolar solvents to achieve maximum loading of ibuprofen in the mesoporous particles. When using liquid carbon dioxide, the pores of the mesoporous silica particles were filled completely with ibuprofen at a lower ibuprofen concentration than similar experiments performed with cyclohexane. When methanol was used, the maximum amount of loaded ibuprofen was never achieved. Furthermore, x-ray scattering showed that all ibuprofen loaded into the mesoporous particles were in an amorphous state. Ibuprofen was released from the mesoporous particles to water within a couple of minutes, regardless of solvent used for loading. It was found that the release of ibuprofen from mesoporous silica was much faster than that of crystalline ibuprofen.

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