Insight into the role of integrated carbohydrate polymers (starch, chitosan, and β-cyclodextrin) with mesoporous silica as carriers for ibuprofen drug; equilibrium and pharmacokinetic properties.

Three types of carbohydrate polymers starch (ST), chitosan (CH), and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) were integrated with mesoporous silica (MCM-48) in some biopolymers nanocomposites (MCM-48/ST, MCM-48/CH, MCM-48/β-CD) as promising delivery systems for ibuprofen drug. This was conducted by simple mixing of the polymers gels with the MCM-48 fractions. The investigated composites are of 328 mg/g, 360 mg/g, 479 mg/g, and 420 mg/g maximum loading capacities for MCM-48, MCM-48/ST, MCM-48/CH, and MCM-48/β-CD, respectively. The kinetic studies revealed preference for the Pseudo-first order model suggesting physisorption loading mechanisms. This supported by the thermodynamic parameters and the recognized adsorption energies that are 0.55 KJ/mol (MCM-48), 0.63 KJ/mol (MCM-48/ST), 0.65 KJ/mol (MCM-48/CH), and 0.65 KJ/mol (MCM-48/β-CD). The equilibrium fitting suggested monolayer loading for ibuprofen by MCM-48 and MCM-48/CH with excellent fitting with the Langmuir hypothesis. The loading properties of MCM-48/ST and MCM-48/β-CD are of multilayer form and follow the Freundlich assumption. The releasing profiles of the drug reflected significant controlled properties depending on the ratio and the type of the integrated polymers for 300 h. The pharmacokinetic investigation of the releasing results demonstrated the best fitting with Korsmeyer-Peppas with diffusion exponent (n) values related to non-Fickian transport behavior suggesting a combination of erosion and diffusion mechanisms.