SYNTHESIS OF POROUS ZnO SPHERES: CHARACTERIZATION AND IN VITRO DRUG RELEASE STUDIES

Zinc Oxide spheres were synthesized using starch as a bio-polymer in an aqueous solution reaction at 85 degree Celsius for 30 minutes. The synthesized spheres were dried at 50 degree Celsius for 24 hours to obtain powdered form of uncalcinated ZnO spheres, which was calcinated at 500 degree celsius for 2 hours to remove the starch present and ZnO hollow spheres were obtained which was ready for the process of drug loading. The uncalcinated and drug loaded spheres were characterized by SEM, TEM, Optical Microscope and FTIR. The spheres were loaded with the drug Captopril in different ratios (1:5, 1:6,1:8) and the amount of free drug and drug entrapped in the spheres were determined. A specific carrier containing a particular amount of drug for all the ratios were taken to study the amount of drug released in a particular pH (1.2pH/7.4pH) for a particular period of time (5hours for 1.2pH and 8hours for 7.4pH). Results was clearly evident that maximum cumulative percentage of drug release was for 1:5 ratio (1.2pH) that is, 51.94% and the least cumulative percentage release was 8.92% for 1:8 (7.4p). The percentage of drug released increased with time and the amount of drug loaded.