Purification and Modification of Nanoclay for Adsorption of Vitamin B6 as Nanocarriers

Nanomaterials are widely used for preparation of nanocarriers especially in order to overcome problems associated with deficiency of vitamins. Among them nanoclay has been introduced as a versatile carrier. In this study nanoclay was prepared, modified and applied for adsorption of vitamin B6 as carrier. The nanoclay was prepared from bentonite as a naturally available ore and then modified using a dispersing agent (sodium Hexamethaphosphate (NaHMP)) for improvement of adsorption of vitamin B6 on it. The results showed that the adsorption of vitamin B6 on nanoclay was occurred in early stages of experiments and adsorption was stopped after 5 minutes indicating a high affinity of vitamin B6 to the nanoclay due to cation exchange mechanism. The adsorption kinetics was quit similar in different pH. However, the amount of vitamin B6 adsorbed at pH=6 was higher than pH=3.2. Amount of adsorption was increased when small amount of dispersant was used for modification of nanoclay however it reduced by increasing the amount of dispersant. The results indicated that the nanoclay can be tuned for improvement of adsorption of vitamin B6 in order to develop versatile nanocarriers to fight deficiency of such important species.