Investigation of the Potential of Adsorption and Drug Delivery Application of the Duloxetine Antipsychotic by using its Molecular Imprinted Polymer

The synthesis and application of a molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) as a carrier for drug delivery of Duloxetine (DUL) antipsychotic was investigated. Mimicking the natural receptors of DUL drug by synthesizing its MIP would lead to formation of some special active sites, which make able the MIP to accept only this special medicinal compound. Therefore, this MIP, which has been templated by DUL, could selectively absorb the molecules of DUL from the mediums in certain conditions and could release those chemical species in another place with different conditions. This MIP with its artificial receptors could be applied as a carrier for drug delivery applications and sustained released tablets. In order to synthesize this MIP based carrier, the precipitation polymerization method was applied. Also, methacrylic acid (MAA; as the functional monomer), 2,2-azobisissobutyronitrile (AIBN; as the initiator), and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA; as the cross-linker), were applied to obtain this sorbent. Moreover, the release kinetics of the drug was investigated by HPLC system, which was shown to be fitted with the Higuchi expressionpattern at least at 5.8, and 6.8 pHs. Finally, the results revealed that the synthesized MIP is able to be used in formulation of the sustained released tablets.