Polymer-mesoporous silica materials templated with an oppositely charged surfactant/polymer system for drug delivery.

In this paper, polymer-mesoporous silica nanoparticles have been synthesized by a dual-template technology. Cationic polymer quaternized poly[bis(2-chloroethyl)ether-alt-1,3-bis[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]urea] (PEPU) and anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were used to form a homogeneous comicelle system to induce mesoporous silica spherical nanoparticles with diameters of 50-180 nm. The formation mechanism was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which suggested that PEPU played a cotemplate role in the synthesis process, and no mesoporous structure was generated without it. After removing the anionic surfactant, SDS, by an ion-exchange method, the cationic polymer-mesoporous silica nanoparticles were obtained. Using the materials as the host and ibuprofen (IBU)/captopril (CapH(2)) as the model drugs, the system revealed well-sustained release profiles.