Water Soluble Silicon Quantum Dots Grafted with Amoxicillin as a Drug Delivery System

Water soluble silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) are prepared and used for the measurement of the efficiency for the controlled release drug delivery. Amoxicillin, antibiotics, is covalently grafted with Si QDs through a surface derivatization reaction. Si QDs are embedded in hydrogel polymer. The release of amoxicillin has been measured by using Ultra violet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectrometer. Amoxicillin-embedded hydrogels exhibit a burst release for 1 h, however covalently loaded Amoxi-Si QDs hydrogel composite exhibited very slow release. Absorption analysis reveals that the Si QDs exhibits a great potential candidate for controlled release of drug. The controlled drug release profiles depend on the hydrolysis of amoxicillin from the surface of Si QDs.