**Sol–Gel Treatment of Textiles for the Entrapping of an Antioxidant**/**Anti-Inflammatory Molecule: Functional Coating Morphological Characterization and Drug Release Evaluation**

**Francesco Puoci 1, Carmela Saturnino 2, Valentina Trovato 3, Domenico Iacopetta 1, Elpida Piperopoulos 4, Claudia Triolo 5, Maria Grazia Bonomo 2, Dario Drommi 6, Ortensia Ilaria Parisi 1, Candida Milone 4, Maria Stefania Sinicropi 1,\*, Giuseppe Rosace 3,\* and Maria Rosaria Plutino 7,\***


Received: 13 February 2020; Accepted: 20 March 2020; Published: 27 March 2020

**Abstract:** The growing interest towards textile-based drug delivery systems is due to their potential innovative medical and well-being applications. In recent years, the technique of encapsulation or inclusion of the medicine/active principle into a polymer functional matrix has been employed in order to obtain textile materials with controlled drug release. In this study, a sol–gel-based coating was developed and used as an entrapping polymeric cross-linked network for a *N*-Palmitoyl-ethanolamine (PEA) derivative, *2*-methyl-pentadecanoic acid (*4*-nitro-phenyl)-amide or *N*-Palmitoyl-(*4*-nitro-phenyl)-amine (PNPA), whose anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties have already been shown. A wide series of chemical-physical methods have been used to characterize the silica-based functional sol and to ascertain the efficient and temporary deposit of PNPA on the sol–gel coated cotton fabrics. The medicine release system achieved was shown to ensure biocompatibility, PNPA reservoir and its subsequent releasing under the action of cutaneous stimuli, thus providing useful insights in the design of medical textiles.

**Keywords:** sol–gel coating; medical textiles; antioxidant; anti-inflammatory; PEA derivative; drug release
