Controlled release of phenytoin for epilepsy treatment from titania and silica based materials

Template technique was used to obtain well ordered nanostructured materials: mesoporous silica and nanostructured titania tubes. This technique permits the synthesis of solids with controlled mesoporosity, where a large variety of molecules that have therapeutic activity can be hosted and further released to specific sites. In this work phenytoin (PH), a drug used in epilepsy treatment, was loaded in ordered mesoporous silica (SBA 15) and nanostructured titania tubes (TiO2). The pure materials and those containing PH were characterized by X-ray diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and N2 adsorption–desorption at 77 K. In order to determine the loading capacity of the antiepileptic drug on these silica- and titania-based materials, the loading and release of PH was investigated using UV–vis spectroscopy. Tubular structures were found for the titania samples, for which the X-ray diffractograms showed to be formed by anatase and rutile phases. On the other hand, an amorphous phase was found in the silica sample. A highly ordered hexagonal structure of 1D cylindrical channels was also observed for this material. Loaded PH showed a good stability inside the used materials as observed by spectroscopy analysis. The adsorption and desorption of PH are faster in nanostructured TiO2 tubes than in mesoporous silica matrix.