Adsorption of Fluconazole Drug on Silica Aerogel by Immersion Method and Investigation of the Rate and Mechanism of Drug Release

In this study, adsorption of fluconazole on silica aerogel was performed successfully by the immersion method in the 1% solution of fluconazole-ethanol at the ambient condition and without using the supercritical method. The hydrophobic and hydrophilic silica aerogels were synthesized by the two-stage sol-gel method and dried at the ambient temperature. This method had most of drug loading at 24 h. It was 1.92% and 1.98% for the hydrophilic and hydrophobic silica aerogels, respectively. Physical properties of the synthesized aerogels were studied by the nitrogen absorption and desorption tests. The presence of fluconazole and the chemical structure of the samples were determined by fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). As well, the loading and release of the drug were investigated using a spectrophotometer. The results showed the structure of the synthesized aerogels had a pore diameter of 6-8 nm and a surface area of about 800-100 m2/g. The study of the drug release also revealed that the release rate of fluconazole in the hydrophilic silica aerogel was higher than that of the hydrophobic sample.