Layered zinc hydroxide-ibuprofen nanohybrids: synthesis and characterization

The nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), ibuprofen (IBU) anion, was intercalated into the layered zinc hydroxide (LZH) to form a new organic-inorganic nanohybrid. Then, IBU-LZH nanohybrid was dispersed into chitosan for the formation of the nanocomposite. The IBU-LZH nanohybrid was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) to study intercalation, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for the investigation of surface morphology, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer to study the chemical interactions and thermal gravimetric analysis/derivative thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG) for understanding the thermal stability. The PXRD patterns showed that the IBU was successfully intercalated into the interlay space of LZHs as monolayers and the basal spacing of LZH increased from 9.57 to 19.54 . The FTIR analyses confirmed the formation of the host-guest nanohybrid. The DTG studies revealed that the thermal stability of IBU was increased after the intercalation into LZH. The in vitro release study of IBU from IBU-LZH and IBU-LZH/chitosan nanocomposite was investigated in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) solution of pH 4.8 and 7.4. The drug release from the LZH was studied by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy.