Synthesis and study the loading and releasing of losartan potassium on the modified mesoporous silica

Abstract

In this study, the mesoporous MCM-41 have been prepared and modified with acidic agents, including citric acid, acetic acid, and ascorbic acid to obtain a suitable drug carrier for the controlled release of losartan potassium. The prepared samples have been characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, TGA and BET methods. Then, the drug loading of losartan potassium on modified MCM-41 has been investigated for the first time. Subsequently, the effects of carrier type, carrier concentration, contact time, drug solution concentration and pH of the drug solution have been investigated, and the optimum loading conditions have been evaluated. The results of drug loading show that loading of losartan potassium in MCM-41 functionalized with citric acid and ascorbic acid is higher than other synthesized samples. The amount of losartan loaded in these carriers is 97.68 and 60.76%, respectively. Moreover, the results of the drug release phase experiments in the pH range of (3–11) show that the highest drug release is at pH = 7.4. Finally, five kinetic models are used to determine the rate of the drug release. Based on the kinetic modeling, it is found that the release of losartan potassium from MCM-41-Ci and MCM-41-As obeys the Higuchi model with non-Fickian diffusion. This was confirmed by investigating the results of error function analysis.