Structure-directing agents for the synthesis of TiO(2) -based drug-delivery systems

A series of titanium oxides was prepared by using a surfactant-template method (STM) and used as a carrier for the sustained release of ibuprofen, which was chosen as a model drug. This STM provides an efficient route to TiO(2) matrices with both high surface area (when compared with those that were obtained by using traditional synthetic approaches) and well-defined mesoporous textures. Some parameters of the synthetic procedure were varied: pH value, surfactant, and thermal treatment. The physicochemical nature of the surface carriers were investigated by means of N(2) -physisorption measurements and FTIR spectroscopy. The effect of the amount of drug on the release kinetics was also investigated. The drug delivery was evaluated in vitro in four different physiological solutions (that simulated the gastrointestinal tract) to analyze the behavior of the TiO(2) -based systems if they were to be formulated as oral DDSs. Our optimized approach is a good alternative to the classical methods that are used to prepare efficient TiO(2) -based drug-delivery systems.