Compressed Hydrogen-Induced Synthesis of Quaternary Trimethyl Chitosan-Silver Nanoparticles with Dual Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities.

Quaternary Trimethyl Chitosan (QTMC) and QTMC-Silver Nanoparticles (QTMC-AgNPs) have been synthesized, characterized, and tested as antibacterial agents against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and two plant fungi (Sclerotium rolfsil and Fusarium oxysporum). The as-prepared water-soluble QTMC was in situ reacted with silver nitrate in the presence of clean compressed hydrogen gas (3 bar) as a reducing agent to produce QTMC-AgNPs. UV-vis, ATR-FTIR, HR-TEM/SEM, XPS, DLS, XRD, and TGA/DTG were employed to assess the optical response, morphology/size, surface chemistry, particle size distribution, crystal nature, and thermal stability of the synthesized QTMC-AgNPs, respectively. The as-prepared QTMC-AgNPs were quasi-spherical in shape with an average particle size of 12.5 nm, as determined by ImageJ software utilizing HR-TEM images and further validated by DLS analysis. The development of crystalline nanoparticles was confirmed by the presence of distinct and consistent lattice fringes with an approximate interplanar d-spacing of 2.04 nm in QTMC-AgNPs. The QTMC-AgNPs exhibited significant antibacterial activity with a clear zone of inhibition of 30 mm and 26 mm around the disks against E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. In addition, QTMC-AgNPs showed highly efficient antifungal activity with 100% and 76.67% growth inhibition against two plant pathogens, S. rolfsii and F. oxysporum, respectively, whereas QTMC revealed no impact. Overall, QTMC-AgNPs showed a promising therapeutic potential and,thus, can be considered for drug design rationale.

Encapsulation and controlled release of an antimalarial drug using surface functionalized mesoporous silica nanocarriers.

Herein, we report the encapsulation and release of antimalarial drug quinine (QN) using three nanocarriers, including MCM-41 (1), and its 3-aminopropyl silane (aMCM-41 (2)) and 3-phenylpropyl silane (pMCM-41 (3)) surface functionalized derivatives. The pH and thermal optimization effects on QN adsorption and release from 1, 2 and 3 were investigated.

Mesoporous silica nanocarriers encapsulated antimalarials with high therapeutic performance.

The use of nanocarriers in drug delivery is a breakeven research and has received a clarion call in biomedicine globally. Herein, two newly nano-biomaterials: MCM-41 encapsulated quinine (MCM-41 ⊃ QN) (1) and 3-phenylpropyl silane functionalized MCM-41 loaded QN (pMCM-41 ⊃ QN) (2) were synthesized and well characterized. 1 and 2 along with our two already reported nano-antimalarial drugs (MCM-41 ⊃ ATS) (3) and 3-aminopropyl silane functionalized MCM-41 contained ATS (aMCM-41 ⊃ ATS) (4) were screened in vitro for their activity against P. falciparium W2 strain, cytotoxicity against BGM cells and in vivo for their activity against Plasmodium bergheiNK65. 1 has the highest antimalarial activity in vivo against P. berghei NK65, (ED50: < 0.0625 mg/kg body weight) and higher mean survival time compared to the other nano biomaterials or unencapsulated drugs at doses higher than 0.0625 mg/kg body weight. This encapsulation strategy of MCM-41 ⊃ QN (1) stands very useful and effective in delivering the drug to the target cells compared to other delivery systems and therefore, this encapsulated drug may be considered for rational drug design.

Synthesis of mesoporous materials as nano-carriers for an antimalarial drug.

An antimalarial drug artesunate (ATS) was encapsulated in both functionalized MCM-41 and ordinary MCM-41 with an excellent loading capacity and sustained release behavior for possible biomedical applications.