A new drug delivery system based on magnetic calixarene nanoparticles

A new drug carrier platform was design based on magnetic calixarene nanoparticles for drug delivery. For this purpose, a calixarene derivative called compound 6 was synthesized and bounded to [3-(2, 3-epoxypropoxy)propyl]-grafted Fe3O4 nanoparticles (SPIONs) using potassium carbonate in acetonitrile to produce a magnetic platform as a drug carrier. Then, doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded onto these calixarene nanoparticles (CALIX-SPIONs) in Tris buffer of pH 7.4 at a nanoparticle concentration of 5-30 mg. The release studies of DOX were performed using different buffers with a pH of 2.2, 4, 6, and 7.4. The binding amount of DOX was estimated by using fluorescence spectroscopy. The binding studies were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) experiments, as well as SEM, EDX, and TEM analysis. Calixarene based magnetic nanoparticles were successfully designed as a drug carrier platform.