Zeolite structures loading with an anticancer compound as drug delivery systems

The authors are thankful to Dr. A. S. Azevedo for collecting the powder diffraction data.Two different structures of zeolites, faujasite (FAU) and Linde type A (LTA), were studied to investigate their suitability for drug delivery systems (DDS). The zeolites in the sodium form (NaY and NaA) were used as hosts for encapsulation of α-cyano-4- hydroxycinnamic acid (CHC). CHC, an experimental anticancer drug, was encapsulated in both zeolites by diffusion in liquid phase. These new drug delivery systems, CHC@zeolite, were characterized by spectroscopic techniques (FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C and 27Al solidstate MAS NMR, and UV−vis), chemical analysis, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of the zeolites and CHC@zeolite drug deliveries on HCT-15 human colon carcinoma cell line viability was evaluated. Both zeolites alone revealed no toxicity to HCT-15 cancer cells. Importantly, CHC@zeolite exhibit an inhibition of cell viability up to 585-fold, when compared to the non-encapsulated drug. These results indicate the potential of the zeolites for drug loading and delivery into cancer cells to induce cell deathO.M. and R.A. are recipients of fellowships (SFRH/BD/36463/2007, SFRH/BI/51118/2010) from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal). This work was supported by the FCT projects refs PEst-C/ QUI/UI0686/2011, PEst-C/CTM/LA0011/2011, and PTDC/ SAU-FCF/104347/2008, under the scope of “Programa Operacional Temático Factores de Competitividade” (COMPETE) of “Quadro Comunitário de Apoio III” and cofinanced by Fundo Comunitário Europeu FEDER, and the Centre of Chemistry and Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (University of Minho, Portugal)

EPR study of highly stable methyl radicals trapped in synthetic H-rho zeolite

Methyl radicals generated by ă-irradiation in the proton form of synthetic rho zeolite exposed to CH4 have been investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in the temperature range 110-370 K. Depending on the methane adsorption temperature two EPR spectra of oCH3 radicals were recorded. The isotropic quartet observed after CH4 adsorption at room temperature was assigned to oCH3 radicals freely rotating in the middle of octagonal prism. After adsorption at 413 K, the isotropic quartet is overlapped with the second signal characterized with anisotropy of hyperfine splitting and g-value. It is postulated that anisotropic signal represents the oCH3 radicals located in á-cages and strongly interacting with silicaalumina framework. The mechanisms of radiolytic formation of methyl radicals and the possible stabilization sites are also discussed