Synthesis and characterization of magnetite/silver/antibiotic nanocomposites for targeted antimicrobial therapy

The article is devoted to preparation and characterization of magnetite/silver/antibiotic nanocomposites for targeted antimicrobial therapy. Magnetite nanopowder was produced by thermochemical technique; silver was deposited on the magnetite nanoparticles in the form of silver clusters. Magnetite/silver nanocomposite was investigated by XRD, SEM, TEM, AFM, XPS, EDX techniques. Adsorptivity of magnetite/silver nanocomposite towards seven antibiotics from five different groups was investigated. It was shown that rifampicin, doxycycline, ceftriaxone, cefotaxime and doxycycline may be attached by physical adsorption to magnetite/silver nanocomposite. Electrostatic surfaces of antibiotics were modeled and possible mechanism of antibiotic attachment is considered in this article. Raman spectra of magnetite, magnetite/silver and magnetite/silver/antibiotic were collected. It was found that it is difficult to detect the bands related to antibiotics in the magnetite/silver/antibiotic nanocomposite spectra due to their overlap by the broad carbon bands of magnetite nanopowder. Magnetic measurements revealed that magnetic saturation of the magnetite/silver/antibiotic nanocomposites decreased on 6-19 % in comparison with initial magnetite nanopowder. Pilot study of antimicrobial properties of the magnetite/silver/antibiotic nanocomposites were performed towards Bacillus pumilus.