Grafting of thermo-responsive polymer inside mesoporous silica with large pore size using ATRP and investigation of its use in drug release

The design of a delivery system was reported based on stimuli-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) inside a mesostructured cellular foam (MCF) via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), and the control of drug release in response to the environmental temperature was investigated. The successful synthesis of PNIPA inside the MCF was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurements. Control of drug release through the porous network was performed by measuring the uptake and release of ibuprofen (IBU). The delivery system of MCF-PNIPA demonstrated a high IBU storage capacity of 58 wt% (IBU/silica), which is much higher than that reported for functional SBA-15 (37 wt%). The multilayer polymers inside the pores of the MCF were considered to form an internal cavity for drug molecules in addition to responding to changes in external temperature.