Self assembly and controlled drug release of a nano-laminated graphite carbon nitride/methotrexate complex

In this study, g-C₃N₄/methotrexate (g-C₃N₄/MTX) nanohybrids were obtained via a self assembly method. XRD and TEM demonstrated that bulk g-C₃N₄ had been stripped into thin nanosheets with size range of 150–250 nm. FTIR investigation indicated that the self assembly of the hybrid was attributed to the hydrogen bond between g-C₃N₄ nanosheets and MTX molecules. It is confirmed by the UV-vis spectra that the hybrids can achieve a sustained drug release within long period for 70 h. Furthermore, the drug release mechanism was investigated by kinetic models and a first-order relationship was concluded, which indicated that the drug release is a simple diffusion process cohydroxyapatite/methotrexate complexntrolled by gradient drug concentration. Cell viability tests confirmed that g-C₃N₄ presented excellent biocompatibility and g-C₃N₄/MTX hybrids had obvious suppression efficiency on MG63 cells which showed a positive correlation to the drug concentration and incubation time.

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