The properties of mesoporous silica nanoparticles functionalized with different PEG-chain length via the disulfide bond linker and drug release in glutathione medium.

In this paper, a novel drug-loaded material (MSNs-SS-PEG) was obtained by grafting the thiol-linked methoxy polyethylene glycol (MeOPEG-SH) onto the thiol-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs-SH) via the disulfide bond linker. In our designed experiment, three different chain lengths of PEG (PEG(1000), PEG(5000), and PEG(1000)-PEG(5000)) were used. The silica materials were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), dynamic light scattering, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements, and X-ray diffraction. The morphology of the MSNs-SS-PEG was spherical with an average diameter of about 150 nm. Due to the covalent modification of hydrophilic MeOPEG, the MSNs-SS-PEG was coated by a thin polymer shell, showing stable and inerratic MCM-41 type mesoporous structure as well as high specific surface areas and large pore volumes. Moreover, the releases of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) from these materials at 10 mM of glutathione were investigated. The PEG functionalization could effectively cap drugs in the mesoporous channels. The release of DOX from the MSNs-SS-PEG(n) revealed redox-responsive characteristic. The obtained results showed that the MSNs-SS-PEG might be promising drug delivery carrier materials, which could play an important role in the development of drug delivery.