Synthesis and characterization of novel organo-hydrogel based agar, glycerol and peppermint oil as a natural drug carrier/release material

Abstract

The very recent Covid-19 pandemic has made the need to understand biocompatible polymers as support material in drug delivery systems and controlled release clearer, especially for organo-hydrogels. This study aims to synthesize various new polymeric materials called gels, hydrogels, and organo-hydrogels according to the monomer used and to investigate their use as drug release systems. The agar-glycerol (AG) pair was used to synthesize the polymers, N, N, methylene bisacrylamide (MBA, m) and glutaraldehyde (GA, g) were used as cross-linkers and peppermint oil (PmO) was included to obtain the organo-hydrogels. Therefore, one AG gel and two p (AG-m) and p (GA-g) hydrogels were synthesized within the scope of the study. Six different organo-hydrogels based on p(AG-m-PmO) or p (AG-g-PmO) were also synthesized by varying the amount of peppermint oil. Paracetamol and carboplatin were selected as the sample drugs. Synthesized gels, hydrogels and organo-hydrogels were characterized by FTIR and SEM analysis. Additionally, swelling behaviors of the synthesized gels were investigated in different media (ID water, tap water, ethanol, acetone, ethanol/ID water (1:1), acetone/ID water (1:1) and gasoline) and at different pHs. Moreover, it was determined that organo-hydrogels were blood compatible and had antioxidant properties based on hemolysis, blood clotting and antioxidant analysis. Therefore, the release of paracetamol (a known antipyretic-painkiller, recommended and used in the treatment of Covid-19) and carboplatin (widely used in cancer treatment) were studied. Evidently, as the amount of PMO oil increases, the -OH groups in organo-hydrogels will increase and the chemical and physical bonding rates will increase; therefore it was observed that increasing peppermint oil in the organo-hydrogels structure to 0.3 mL stimulated the release of the drugs. For instance, maximum paracetamol release amount from p(AG-g-PmO) and p(AG-m-PmO) organo-hydrogels was calculated to be 72.3% at pH 7.4 and 69.8% at pH 2.0, respectively. The maximum carboplatin release amount from p(AG-g-PmO) and p(AG-m-PmO) organo-hydrogels was calculated to be 99.7% at pH 7.4 and 100% at pH 7.4, respectively. It was concluded that the synthesized organo-hydrogels might easily be used as drug carrier and controlled drug release materials.

Application of poly (Agar-co-Glycerol-co-Sweet Almond Oil) based organohydrogels as a Drug Delivery Material

“…The change in percent swelling of gel, hydrogel and organogels as a function of solvent concentration in water-organic solvent mixtures was shown in Figure 2. After the AG gel was crosslinked, the IDwater absorption capacity increased in ratio [16,20]. On the contrary, after the hydrogel added SAO, the IDwater absorption capacity approximately decreased in 40-52% for p(AG-m) and 27-60% for p(AG-g) the tapwater absorption capacity decreased in 37-57% for p(AG-g) and 47-73% for p(AG-m).…”

“…Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis Organohydrogels, AG, p(AG-m), p(AG-g) were prepared by free radical polymerization in emulsion media and the FTIR spectra were shown in Figure 3 and explain in the literature [16,20]. Sweet almond oil contained the band peak at 3600-3000 cm -1 belonging to the vibrtions of the -OH gruops, peak in 3007 cm -1 belonged -CH, bands at 1742 cm -1 and 1650 cm -1 represented to C=O and -NH vibrations.…”

“…Agar-Glycerol-based gels and hydrogels synthesis Agar-Glycerol based gel and hydrogels were synthesized via free radical polymerization in emulsion according to the preparation method given in Table 1. Gel and hydrogels were synthesized as described by Alpaslan et al [16]. Gel and hydrogel compositions were given in Table 2.…”

“…The FT-IR spectra of organohydrogel was obtained from a Thermo Scienti c Nicolet iS10 instrument using ATR apparats with 4 cm -1 resolution between 4000-650 cm -1 To evaluate the blood clotting [16] and hemolysis analysis [20] methods which were explained in the literature were applied.…”

Application of Poly (Agar-Co-Glycerol-Co-Sweet Almond Oil) Based Organo-Hydrogels as a Drug Delivery Material

“…Agar-Glycerol based gel and hydrogels were synthesized via free radical polymerization in emulsion according to the preparation method given in Table 1 . Gel and hydrogels were synthesized as described by Alpaslan et al[ 17 ]. Gel and hydrogel compositions were given in Table 2 .…”