Synthesis of Bio-inorganic Conjugates

In this chapter, we describe the synthetic strategy for bio-inorganic conjugates which can be used as drug or gene delivery systems and their efficient cellular uptake mechanism. 

The anticancer agent Methotrexate (MTX) was conjugated with LDH by a coprecipitation method. To synthesize the MTX-LDH conjugate, powdered MTX was dissolved in decarbonated water, and titrated with NaOH (0.5 M) solution to give a 0.043 M solution of MTX at pH 7. The mixed metal solution of Mg(N03)2-6H20 and A1 (N03)3-9H20 with molar ratio Mg/Al = 2/1 was added to the MTX solution and the solution was titrated with NaOH solution until pH 9.5 to produce yellowish precipitates [7,26]. 

Typically, various sized LDH particles are synthesized under hydrothermal conditions by altering the aging time and reaction temperature. A clear metal solution was prepared with concentration 0.1 M, and the ratio of Mg A1 fixed at 2 1. The clear solution was titrated up to pH 9.5 with 0.5 M of NaOH solution containing Na2C03, and samples were then aged in an autoclave at various temperatures for various 

It is clear that low concentration, high temperature and long reaction time resulted in large particles. The formation of LDHs occurs by precipitation from supersaturated metal solution upon adjusting the pH. The crystal growth of the precipitation 

Synthetic method Aging time (h) Reaction Temperature (°C) Total metal concentration (M) Size (nm) Standard deviation (nm) 

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