Synthesis, characterization and in vitro cytotoxic activities of chlorogenic acid loaded on γ-Fe2O3@SiO2 nanoparticles

In recent years, nanoscale drug delivery systems have been remarkably interested. The use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in targeted drug delivery is according to their magnetism and simplicity of being manipulated by an external magnetic field which directly guides MNP drug-carriers to the exact region [1]. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is phenolic compound generated via esterifying caffeic acid with (-)-quinic acid. Green coffee is a main natural resource of CGA [2].In the current study, nanoparticles with anticancer features were synthesized through loading CGA on magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Firstly, the synthesis of Fe3O4 MNPs was carried out through chemical coprecipitation reaction and the silica was coated on Fe3O4 MNPs surface through the sol-gel procedure. Next, the chlorogenic acid was used to modify Fe3O4@SiO2 MNPs surface. Characterization of γ-Fe2O3@SiO2-CGA MNPs was performed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) that show effective coating of the MNPs with SiO2 and chlorogenic acid (CGA) ligand and spherical shape of the nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 16 nm, respectively. The in vitro cytotoxic function of γ-Fe2O3@SiO2-CGA MNPs and CGA against the human cancer cells (U-87 MG, A-2780, and A-549) using MTT colorimetric test indicated that the cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles was considerable more than free CGA.