Application of Janus Magnetic Nanoparticle Fe3O4@SiN functionalized with beta-cyclodextrin in thymol drug delivery procedure: An in vitro study

In this work, a novel drug delivery system was developed for thymol. Thymol is an herbal medicine that has low chemical reactivity. The drug delivery platform was Janus Magnetic Nanoparticle. The carrier's core-shell structure was Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4) as core and thin layer SiO2 (SiN) as a shell. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized using the co-precipitation method. A thin layer of SiO2 was covered on the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The whole Janus magnetic nanoparticle, Fe3O4@SiN, was functionalized with beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and used as a drug delivery platform. The binding between thymol and the Fe3O4@SiN/beta-CD was made possible through bipolar-bipolar and hydrogen bonding. The structure, magnetic behavior, and applicability of Fe3O4@SiN for drug delivery purposes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) indicated that the Fe3O4@SiN has a weak ferromagnetic behavior (Hc = 65.748G) at temperature 300 K and a permeability of 35.759 x 10(-3) emu gG(-1). The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that the particle size of Fe3O4@SiN is 40 nm. Finally, the Fe3O4@SiN/beta-CD was successfully applied to simulated body fluid.