Deformable double-shelled hollow mesoporous organosilica nanocapsules: A multi-interfacial etching strategy

Multishelled hollow structures have drawn increasing interest because of their peculiar compartmentation environments and physicochemical properties. In this work, deformable double-shelled hollow mesoporous organosilica nanocapsules (DDHMONs) were successfully synthesized by a multi-interfacial etching strategy. The obtained DDHMONs have a double-shelled structure with aninorganic-organic hybrid framework, a uniform outer layer (similar to 320 nm) and inner layer (similar to 180 nm), ordered mesochannels (similar to 2.21 nm), and a large specific surface area (similar to 1233 m(2)/g). In vitro toxicity tests show that the DDHMONs have excellent biocompatibility when coincubated with human breast cancer cells. In addition, the anticancer substance doxorubicin (DOX) can be highly loaded in DDHMONs (similar to 335 mg/mg). The results from flow cytometry together with confocal laser scanning microscopy show that DOX can be efficiently delivered into MCF-7 cells by DDHMONs, thus improving chemotherapeutic efficiency and demonstrating that DDHMONs have potential nanomedicine applications as anticancer agents. (C) 2020 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.