The Role of the pH in the Impregnation of Spherical Mesoporous Silica Particles with L-Arginine Aqueous Solutions

In the context of the development of carriers for amino acids delivery, Spherical Mesoporous Silica Particles (SMSP), characterized by particles size ranging from 0.15 µm to 0.80 µm and average pore diameter of 2.4 nm, were synthesised and loaded with L-arginine (ARG), a basic amino acid involved in several physiological processes. The loading was performed using water as a solvent through the wet impregnation method (with a final arginine content of 9.1% w/w). The material was characterized before and after impregnation by means of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption analysis, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. SMSP are shown to suffer degradation upon impregnation, which dramatically affects their porosity. To elucidate the role of the pH of the ARG impregnating solution (originally set at pH ≈ 11) on SMSP degradation, the loading was performed under different pH conditions (5 and 9) keeping constant the ARG concentration. The impregnation performed with acidic solution did not modify the carrier. All samples displayed ARG in amorphous form: zwitterionic species were present in SMSP impregnated at basic pH whereas positive protonated species in that impregnated at acidic pH.