silica-coated magnetic tragacanth gum nanoparticles modified with citric acid for the encapsulation and delivery of ranitidine

Abstract: a new magnetic nanocomposite was prepared by synthesizing fe3o4@sio2 nanoparticles and then coating them with a shell of tragacanth gum (tg) as a natural product modified by citric acid (ca). fe3o4@sio2@tg@ca nanoparticles obtained were identified by scanning electron microscopy (sem), energy dispersive x-ray analysis (edx) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ft-ir). magnetic nanoparticles prepared were used for loading and delivery of ranitidine, an oral drug. conditions for drug loading were optimized by the central composite design optimization method. the maximum adsorbent loading efficiency for ranitidine was 76.3% that was obtained at ph 11 and its release in vitro was gained at ph 1.6 in a phosphate buffer medium. the loading capacity of the adsorbent was dependent on the initial concentration of ranitidine and exceeded 5.2 mg g-1 in a solution of 100 mg l-1. the study of adsorption isotherms to describe the interaction of ranitidine with adsorbent showed the best fit with freundlich isotherm [1]. the results showed that the prepared adsorbent fe3o4@sio2@tg@ca, as a non-toxic and low-cost adsorbent, is quite suitable for drug delivery applications [2].