Unravelling pH/pKa influence on pH-responsive drug carriers: Insights from ibuprofen-silica interactions and comparative analysis with carbon nanotubes, sulfasalazine, and alendronate.

This study employs density functional theory to explore the interaction between ibuprofen (IBU) and silica, emphasizing the influence of the trimethylsilyl (TMS) functional group for designing pH-responsive drug carriers. The surface (S) and drug (D) molecules' neutral (0) or deprotonated (-1) states were taken into consideration during the investigation. The likelihood of these states was determined based on the pKa values and the desired pH conditions. To calculate the pH-dependent interaction energy (EintpH), four different situations have been identified: S0D0, S0D-1, S-1D0, and S-1D-1.The electrostatic component of interaction energy aligns favorably with its theoretical value in both the Debye-Hückel and Grahame models. The investigation has gathered first-hand experimental data on the drug loading and release of pH-responsive mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Effective drug loading was observed in the acidic environment of the stomach (pH 2-5), followed by a release in the slightly basic to neutral pH of the small intestine (pH 7.4), These findings align with existing literature. The results revealed horizontal drug adherence on silica surfaces, improving binding capabilities. Comparisons were made with combinations involving carboxylated carbon nanotubes and ibuprofen, silica, and sulfasalazine, and silica and alendronate, exploring drug loading/release dynamics associated with positive/negative interaction energies. The investigation, supported by experimental data, contributes valuable insights into pH-responsive mesoporous silica nanoparticles, offering new design possibilities for drug carriers.

Theoretical insights and implications of pH-dependent drug delivery systems using silica and carbon nanotube.

In this paper we have studied the density functional theory of four drugs ibuprofen, alendronate, Sulfasalazine and paracetamol with quartz, propylamine, trimethylamine functionalized quartz and carboxyl modified carbon nanotube. The attractive and repulsive interaction energies between drugs and quartz is obtained at various pH values. The attractive and repulsive energies are well correlated with experimental drug loading and releasing behavior by mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Further, a theoretical model is developed that accounts the electrostatic interaction between silica and drug and the model can predict the drug loading and releasing behavior by silica nanoparticles at various pH values. Sulfasalazine can be taken orally and loaded with trimethyl ammonium functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles, which keeps the drug in tact with the carrier in the acidic environment of the stomach and releases it into the neutral or basic medium of the small intestine. Alendronate may be loaded and released from propylamine functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles in the ranges of 1-5 and > 8, respectively. Ibuprofen is absorbed in an acidic environment and released in basic conditions for carboxyl modified carbon nanotube. The loading and releasing pH ranges for paracetamol in trimethylammonium functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles are 4-8 and >8, respectively. We also convert the pH-dependent variant of the diffusion-controlled Higuchi equation. We have changed the original Higuchi equation to produce the pH-dependent variation by incorporating the Nernst-Planck equation into Flick's first law. The updated equation could be used to forecast when medication particles with varying release times will emerge from a nanoparticles matrix.

Acidity constant and DFT-based modelling of pH-responsive alendronate loading and releasing on propylamine-modified silica surface.

A computational methodology that couples the acidity (Ka) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations has been developed to explain the pH-dependent drug loading on and releasing from mesoporous silica nanoparticles. The model has been validated by investigating the pH-dependent loading and releasing of a bisphosphonate drug molecule, alendronate, on a propylamine-modified quartz surface (101), a model for functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles. The pH-dependent interacting molecular species are the neutral and anionic forms of the drug molecule, silanol group of quartz surface and the functional group in the case of functionalized quartz surface. The interaction energies of all the molecular species of alendronate with silica surface are calculated by using the DFT-based CASTEP method. Five molecular states of alendronate (D0, D-, D2-, D3- and D4-), two for silica surface (S0 and S-) and two for propylamine (P+ and P0) are considered. Ten possible combinations of interactions of alendronate with silica surface and twenty for alendronate and propylamine-functionalized silica surfaces are calculated. The relative probability of interaction of a particular pair of drug and surface combination at a particular pH is weighed by the product of their fractions, the latter is calculated by using the Handerson-Hasselbach equation. The total interaction energies at a particular pH are calculated by summing the possible individual interaction energies. The variation of total interaction energy with pH shows that the functional group of propylamine lowers the interaction energy at lower pH values (1-5), thus favouring adsorption or loading of the drug and increases the interaction energy at higher pH values (pH > 8) and thus favours desorption or release of the drug. This is in agreement with experimental results where it is shown that propylamine-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles load alendronate in the pH range of 1-5 and release at pH = 8. This method can be used to predict the pH-dependent drug loading and releasing of a particular combination of drug and on a particular drug delivery system.

Intramolecular charge transfer reaction, polarity, and dielectric relaxation in AOT/water/heptane reverse micelles: pool size dependence.

Intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) reaction in a newly synthesized molecule, of 4-(1-morpholenyl) benzonitrile (M6C), in AOT/water/heptane reverse micelles at different pool sizes has been studied by using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence emission spectroscopy. The pool size dependences of the reaction equilibrium constant and reaction rate have been explained in terms of the average polarity of the confined solvent pools estimated from the fluorescence emission Stokes shift of a nonreactive probe, coumarin 153, dissolved in these microemulsions. The complex permittivity measurements in the frequency range 0.01

Temperature effects on ion association and hydration in MgSO4 by dielectric spectroscopy.

A detailed investigation of aqueous solutions of magnesium sulfate has been made by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) over a wide range of frequencies (0.2 MgSO(4) (0)(aq) is in good agreement with literature data at lower temperatures but is overestimated at higher temperatures due to processing difficulties. Despite the limited precision of the spectra, analysis of the individual steps in the ion-association process is possible for the first time. The 2SIPs are formed with little disturbance to their hydration shells, the (partial) destruction of which appears to occur mostly during the formation of SIPs. Effective hydration numbers derived from the DRS spectra indicate that both Mg(2+) and SO(4) (2-) influence solvent water molecules beyond their first hydration spheres but that MgSO(4)(aq) is less strongly hydrated than the previously studied CuSO(4)(aq).

Ion association and hydration in aqueous solutions of copper(II) sulfate from 5 to 65 degrees C by dielectric spectroscopy.

Aqueous solutions of copper(II) sulfate have been studied by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) over a wide range of frequencies (0.2 less, similar nu/GHz < or = 89), concentrations (0.02 < or = m/mol kg(-1) less, similar 1.4), and temperatures (5 < or = t/ degrees C < or = 65). The spectra show clear evidence for the simultaneous existence of double-solvent-separated, solvent-shared, and contact ion pairs at all temperatures, with increasing formation especially of contact ion pairs with increasing temperature. The overall ion association constant corresponding to the equilibrium: Cu2+(aq) + SO4(2-)(aq) right harpoon over left harpoon CuSO4(0)(aq) was found to be in excellent agreement with literature data over the investigated temperature range. However, the precision of the spectra and other difficulties did not allow a thermodynamic analysis of the formation of the individual ion-pair types. Effective hydration numbers derived from the DRS spectra were high but consistent with simulation and diffraction data from the literature. They indicate that both ions influence solvent water molecules beyond the first hydration sphere. The implications of the present findings for previous observations on copper sulfate solutions are briefly discussed.