Synthesis and Characterization of Microporous Nanomaterial from ZIF-8 for Efficient Loading and Controlled Release of Dapsone in Aqueous Media

This study focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and application of a microporous nanomaterial made from a metal-organic framework called ZIF-8. The material was successfully prepared and used to investigate its ability to load and release dapsone in water-based solutions. This prepared ZIF-8 exhibited promising drug loading from aqueous environments through hydrogen bonding, π-π, and electrostatic interactions. The synthesized ZIF-8 was characterized through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, Elemental mapping analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis to investigate its structure and morphology. The study investigated several factors that could influence the dapsone loading procedure, including pH, ZIF-8 dosage, and loading time, to optimize the process. Using the non-linear simplex optimization methodology, it was found that the efficiency of loading dapsone exceeded 92.5 ± 3.9% when the concentration of the dapsone drug was 50 mg.L^-1. The most effective parameters for achieving the highest possible loading of dapsone were loading pH = 7.0, ZIF-8 dosage = 6.0 mg.mL^-1, and loading time = 120 min. Investigative studies on release mechanisms demonstrated that when the dapsone-loaded ZIF-8 was submerged in phosphate buffer saline (at pH = 7.4 and temperature = 37 °C), it displayed an optimal efficiency surpassing 80% following a duration of 120 h.