Silica aerogels are attractive candidates for drug delivery systems due to their low toxicity, high surface area, and nanoporous structure. The open-porous structure allows for efficient loading of a drug into the aerogel. A high surface area allows for fast release of the active drug. I am investigating the release rate and chemical properties of ibuprofen-doped silica aerogels prepared using the patented Union College rapid supercritical extraction (RSCE) method. The release rate of a drug is important as it is related to the bioavailability (the amount of drug that can be absorbed) and dosage of the drug.Traditionally, electronic absorption spectroscopy has been used to measure the in vitro release rate of ibuprofen into solution. In this work, the release of ibuprofen from aerogels into solutions of biological pH was monitored using fluorescence spectroscopy. Fluorescence spectroscopy is an attractive method to study the release rate, as it exhibits a lower limit of detection and higher selectivity than commonly used methods, allowing smaller concentrations of the released drug to be detected. The effect of surface hydrophobicity on release rate will also be discussed. Additional characterizations of the ibuprofen-doped aerogels via polarimetry and infrared spectroscopy were performed to assess whether the chemical composition of the drug was maintained in the RSCE process.
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