Release Kinetics of Nicotine Loaded onto Mesoporous Silicate Materials for Use in Nicotine Replacement Therapy

Objective: In this work, the loading of nicotine onto mesoporous silicate materials and its release into a phosphate buffer solution at 37°C were investigated. Methods: The mesoporous silicate materials designated as MCM-41 were prepared with different pore sizes via using alkyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactants with different alkyl chain lengths of carbon atoms 12, 14, and 16. The mesoporous silicate systems were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), N2-adsorption–desorption isotherms, and FT-IR spectroscopy. Results: Loading of nicotine was confirmed by FTIR and thermal gravimetric analysis and was determined by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Conclusion: A slight increase in loading capacity with increasing pore size was observed, with a loading capacity of about 17% for MCM-41(16). The release of nicotine was monitored by HPLC and was almost complete for MCM-41(14) and MCM-41(16) in 8 h.