Preparation and application of mesoporous core-shell nanosilica using leucine derivative as template in effective drug delivery

Abstract Core-shell structured mesoporous silica nanoparticles have been firstly synthesized with the new template from L-leucine methyl ester hydrochloride (H-Leu-OMe·HCl). LMSNs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption/desorption, and small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXRD), demonstrating a well-ordered mesostructure. After loading doxorubicin hydrochloride (Dox) into pores, considerable loading capacity of 30.5% and favorable cumulative release amount were obtained. MTT assay suggested that Dox-loaded LMSNs demonstrated great promise to anti-tumor. The use of MSNs with the synthesized template, as a drug delivery carrier, will extend the pharmaceutical applications of silica materials.