The role interplay between mesoporous silica pore volume and surface area and their effect on drug loading capacity

Christoffer G. Bavnhøj, Matthias M. Knopp*, Cecilie M. Madsen, Korbinian Löbmann

*Corresponding author for this work
    18 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this study, the influence of the mesoporous silica (MS) textural properties (surface area, pore diameter, and pore volume) on drug loading capacity (monomolecular loading capacity and pore filling capacity) was investigated theoretically and experimentally using a thermoanalytical method. The loading capacities of three model drugs (celecoxib, cinnarizine, and paracetamol) were determined in five different MS grades of Sylysia® with identical chemical composition, but varying surface area, pore diameter and pore volume. The experimentally determined loading capacities were compared to theoretical loading capacities, calculated based on the surface area and amorphous density of the drugs, and the surface area and pore volume of the MS. The findings of the study showed that the monomolecular loading capacity generally increased with increasing surface area and decreasing pore volume of the MS. However, the MS grade with the highest surface area did not display the highest monomolecular loading capacity for any of the three drugs. This was probably a result of the decreasing pore diameter necessary to accommodate the increasing surface area of the MS i.e., if the pore is smaller than the drug molecule, the drug cannot access the available surface area. For these systems, the amorphous density of the drug and the pore volume of the MS was used to estimate the theoretical pore filling capacity, which was in good agreement with the experimentally determined loading capacity. In conclusion, this study showed that both the pore volume and surface area of the MS will have an influence on the drug loading capacity and that this can be estimated with good accuracy both theoretically and experimentally.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number100008
    JournalInternational Journal of Pharmaceutics: X
    Volume1
    ISSN2590-1567
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2019

    Keywords

    • Amorphous stability
    • Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
    • Loading capacity
    • Mesoporous silica
    • Poorly soluble drugs
    • Pore diameter
    • Pore volume
    • Surface area

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