Anisotropic silica mesostructures for DNA encapsulation

Abstract

The encapsulation of biomolecules in inert meso or nanostructures is an important step towards controlling drug delivery agents. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) are of immense importance owing to their high surface area, large pore size, uniform particle size and chemical inertness. Reverse micellar method with CTAB as the surfactant has been used to synthesize anisotropic mesoporous silica materials. We have used the anisotropic silica nanostructures for DNA encapsulation studies and observed a loading capacity of ~ 8 μ g mg⁻¹ of the sample. On functionalizing the pores of silica with amine group, the amount of DNA loaded on the rods decreases which is due to a reduction in the pore size upon grafting of amine groups.