Mesoporous silica nanoparticles functionalized with a dialkoxide diorganotin(IV) compound: In search of more selective systems against cancer cells

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) have been functionalized with the polyamino ligand N-1-(3-trimethoxysilylpropyediethylenetriamine to give the material MSN-DETATMS (M1). The reaction of M1 with the diphenyltin(IV) compound Sn1 [obtained previously from the reaction of (3-glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane and diphenyltin(IV) dichloride in the presence of two equivalents of sodium hydroxide] in a quantity to obtain a theoretical 10% wt Sn/SiO2, gave the material MSN-DETATMS-O-2-SnPh2 (M2). Alternatively, M1 was reacted with folic acid to achieve the incorporation of the folate fragment via formation of an amido bond MSN-DETATMS-FA (M3) and subsequently with Snl to give the tin-functionalized material MSN-DETATMS-FA-O-2-SnPh2 (M4). M1-M4 have been characterized by several methods such as infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), solid-state NMR spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, electrochemical methods, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). All the synthesized nanomaterials have been tested in vitro against a wide variety of cancer and noncancer cells in order to determine different aspects of their antitumour effects such as cell uptake, cell death, cell migration and cell invasion, to observe whether the incorporation of folate fragments may increase the cell uptake and selectivity towards cancer cells, thus increasing their potential applicability in future chemotherapeutic approaches.