Production, Purification and Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes for Medical Applications

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are needle-like potential carriers of bioactive including drug, genes and proteins. This review considers several techniques that have been developed for fabricating, purifying and functionalizing CNT structures. Commonly, three techniques are being used for producing CNTs: the carbon arc-discharge technique; the laser-ablation and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. Carbon nanotube usually contains a large amount of impurities such as metal particles, amorphous carbon, and multishells. So purification is needed before attachment of drugs onto CNTs. Depending on technique of their synthesis and types of nano tubes, there are many different methods and procedure for purification. Almost all purification procedures have the following main steps: deletion of large graphite particles and aggregations with filtration, dissolution in appropriate solvents to eliminate catalyst particles (concentrated acids as solvent) and fullerenes (use of organic solvents), and microfiltration and chromatography to size separation and remove the amorphous carbon clusters. Generally there are two methods of carbon nanotube purifications these are chemical method and physical methods. Raw carbon nanotubes have highly hydrophobic surfaces, and are not soluble in aqueous solutions. For medical applications, surface chemistry modifications or functionalization is required to solubilize CNTs in aqueous solvent, improve biocompatibility and to decrease the toxicity of CNTs to the normal cells.

A Computational Quantum Chemical Approach for Surface Assimilation Effects of Well‐Known Voltage Sensitive Potassium Channel Blockers (4‐Aminopyridine and 3,4‐Diaminopyridine) over Carbon Nanotube

“…The small drug molecules are accommodated inside the internal cavities of CNTs due to their hollow cylindrical shape. [11,12] In the drug delivery system, active drugs are joined with the carriers. The large surface area to volume ratio and the cylindrical shape of CNTs allows the high probability to interact with the drug.…”

Preparation and Statistical In-vitro Evaluation of Covalent Functionalized Multi Walled Carbon Nanotube 5-Fluorouracil Conjugates

“…In the field of nanotechnology, carbon nanotubes are having novel property that make them prospective beneficial in many applications. The three major methods are used in the production of CNT (a) arc discharge technique (b) laser vaporization and (c) chemical vapour deposition (CVD) (Varshney 2014;Ruhal et al, 2012;Farahani et al, 2016;Brhane et al, 2016).…”

Time‐Dependent Density Functional Theory, AIM Analysis, NLO, and Thermodynamic Properties of Propofol and Adsorption Effects of Propofol Drug over Carbon Nanotube (C56H16) as the Factor of Drug Delivery System

“…The hollow cylindrical CNTs have internal spacing, carrying small drugs or ions. [10,11] The spherical shape and high surface area to volume ratio of CNTs provide the remarkable potential to accommodate drugs. [12,13] These physical and chemical properties can be advantageous for CNTs to be widely used as drug delivery agents.…”