Synthesis of novel mesoporous silica nanoparticles functionalized with succinic dihydrazone Schiff-base metal complexes and a study of their biological activities

Abstract

For the first time, functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with dinuclear Schiff-base complexes were synthesized as attractive organic–inorganic hybrids and their capability investigated for loading antibiotic drugs and immobilization of enzymes. 2D-hexagonal MCM-41 nanoparticles were synthesized by a sol–gel method and amino propyl trimethoxy silane (APTMS) anchored on the surface of the MSNs as a linker. MSN-APS nanoparticles were coordinated with dihydrazone Schiff-base complexes of copper(II) and nickel(II) by the nitrogen atom of APS for making MSN-APS-Cu₂L and MSN-APS-Ni₂L hybrids, respectively (L is the Schiff-base ligand). These novel mesoporous silica nanoparticles were characterized by various techniques, such as FT-IR, LA-XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, EDX, BET and TGA. The results show that the synthesized hybrids have high potential for loading gentamicin and immobilizing enzymes such as DNase, coagulase and α-amylase.