In the past decade, non-invasive and biocompatible mesoporous silica materials as efficient drug delivery systems have attracted special attention. Great progress in structure control and functionalization (magnetism and luminescence) design has been achieved for biotechnological and biomedical applications. This review highlights the most recent research progress on silica-based controlled drug delivery systems, including: (i) pure mesoporous silica sustained-release systems, (ii) magnetism and/or luminescence functionalized mesoporous silica systems which integrate targeting and tracking abilities of drug molecules, and (iii) stimuli-responsive controlled release systems which are able to respond to environmental changes, such as pH, redox potential, temperature, photoirradiation, and biomolecules. Although encouraging and potential developments have been achieved, design and mass production of novel multifunctional carriers, some practical biological application, such as biodistribution, the acute and chronic toxicities, long-term stability, circulation properties and targeting efficacy in vivo are still challenging.

Functionalized mesoporous silica materials for controlled drug delivery

Good control of the morphology, particle size, uniformity and dispersity of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) is of increasing importance to their use in catalyst, adsorption, polymer filler, optical devices, bio-imaging, drug delivery, and biomedical applications. This review discusses different synthesis methodologies to prepare well-dispersed MSNs and hollow silica nanoparticles (HSNs) with tunable dimensions ranging from a few to hundreds of nanometers of different mesostructures. The methods include fast self-assembly, soft and hard templating, a modified Stober method, dissolving–reconstruction and modified aerogel approaches. In practical applications, the MSNs prepared by these methods demonstrate good potential for use in high-performance catalysis, antireflection coating, transparent polymer–MSNs nanocomposites, drug-release and theranostic systems.

Synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles

Diagnostics and Therapy Guanying Chen,‡,† Indrajit Roy,†,§ Chunhui Yang,*,‡ and Paras N. Prasad*,† †Institute for Lasers, Photonics, and Biophotonics and Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, United States ‡School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150001, China Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007, India

Nanochemistry and Nanomedicine for Nanoparticle-based Diagnostics and Therapy

As prepared nanomaterials of metals, semiconductors, polymers and carbon often need surface modifications such as ligand exchange, and chemical and bioconjugate reactions for various biosensor, bioanalytical, bioimaging, drug delivery and therapeutic applications. Such surface modifications help us to control the physico-chemical, toxicological and pharmacological properties of nanomaterials. Furthermore, introduction of various reactive functional groups on the surface of nanomaterials allows us to conjugate a spectrum of contrast agents, antibodies, peptides, ligands, drugs and genes, and construct multifunctional and hybrid nanomaterials for the targeted imaging and treatment of cancers. This tutorial review is intended to provide an introduction to newcomers about how chemical and bioconjugate reactions transform the surface of nanomaterials such as silica nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, gold quantum clusters, semiconductor quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, fullerene and graphene, and accordingly formulate them for applications such as biosensing, bioimaging, drug and gene delivery, chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy and photothermal therapy. Nonetheless, controversial reports and our growing concerns about toxicity and pharmacokinetics of nanomaterials suggest the need for not only rigorous in vivo experiments in animal models but also novel nanomaterials for practical applications in the clinical settings. Further reading of original and review articles cited herein is necessary to buildup in-depth knowledge about the chemistry, bioconjugate chemistry and biological applications of individual nanomaterials.

Chemical modifications and bioconjugate reactions of nanomaterials for sensing, imaging, drug delivery and therapy.

1. Host−Guest Supramolecular Chemistry A 1.

Biomedical Applications of Supramolecular Systems Based on Host-Guest Interactions.

This tutorial review provides an outlook on nanomaterials that are currently being used for theranostic purposes, with a special focus on mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSNP) based materials. MSNPs with large surface area and pore volume can serve as efficient carriers for various therapeutic agents. The functionalization of MSNPs with molecular, supramolecular or polymer moieties, provides the material with great versatility while performing drug delivery tasks, which makes the delivery process highly controllable. This emerging area at the interface of chemistry and the life sciences offers a broad palette of opportunities for researchers with interests ranging from sol–gel science, the fabrication of nanomaterials, supramolecular chemistry, controllable drug delivery and targeted theranostics in biology and medicine.

Aleksandr Bosoy

Papers

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles in biomedical applications

Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles in Biomedical Applications