Synthesis of novel β-CD/ MWCNTs nanohybrid through ‘click’ coupling and its application as drug delivery system

In the last years Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) emerged as promising needle-like carriers of both small drug molecules as well as macromolecules such as genes and proteins [1]. CNTs can be surface engineered in order to enhance their dispersibility in the aqueous phase or to provide the appropriate functional groups that can bind to the desired therapeutic material or the target tissue to elicit a therapeutic effect. In order to overcome the unfavorable aggregation of CNTs and to extend their applications in biosystems, new hydrophilic functional moieties able to encapsulate various organic or biological molecules in their hydrophobic cavities and thus widely used in biological systems as carriers of drugs have been introduced [2]. The combination of β-cyclodextrin (CD) and carbon nanotubes is expected to generate significant and interesting object for supramolecular chemistry, biomedicine and nanodevice construction. Till now the most reported CD/nanotube systems have been concentrated on the electrochemistry of noncovalently CD modified carbon nanotubes [3-4]. We have investigated the synthesis of novel β-CD covalently modified MWCNTs nanohybrid through ‘click’ coupling (Fig. 1). The product was fully characterized with, XPS, XRD, UV-Vis, SEM, TGA and TEM measurements. As β-CD immobilized on MWCNTs is supposed to show drug binding abilities, the interaction of obtained β-CD covalently modified MWCNTs with the anti-HSV agent Ayclovir, chosen as hydrophic antiviral drug model, was proved by UV-Vis and DSC experiments.