Improvement single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) based on functionalizing with monomers 2-hydroxyethylmethacryate (HEMA) and N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) for pharmaceutical applications as cancer therapy

The functionalized carbon nanotubes play significant roles in the fields such as preparation of composite materials and biological technologies. This paper explains the covalent functionalization of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with biomedical important monomers, 2-hydroxyethylmethacryate (HEMA) and N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) by chemical grafting of HEMA and PVP monomers via free radical polymerization. To get carboxylic acid functionalized SWCNTs, first the nanotubes were oxidized with a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid (1:3). Then, the binding of HEMA and NVP onto the surface of SWCNTs was performed by chemical functionalization of HEMA, NVP with acid chloride-bound carbon nanotube by esterification reaction. These results were confirmed by FT-IR and SEM. The cell culture experiments conducted for pharmaceutical applications were used as cancer therapy.