Preparation and Properties of Photosensitizer Loaded Magnetic Nanocarriers

The objective of this work is to develop a novel photodynamic drug nanocarrier consisting of magnetite and a drug with silica shell by sol-gel method. The nanocarriers were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). These nanocarriers were approximately spherical, sized in the range of 30-50 nm. It was confirmed that the drug was enwrapped in the nanocarriers by observing the ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectra. The generation of singlet oxygen (1O2) was measured by the use of N, N-Dimethyl-4-nitrosoaniline (RNO) as a selective scavenger. Using laser to irradiate the nanocarriers and RNO system, the decrease in the absorption peak of RNO at 440 nm was due to the 1O2 released from the nanocarriers, which proved that the photodynamic drug could work normally.