Mesoporous MCM-41 as drug host system

Among the large number of applications of mesoporous MCM-41 materials, we have recently developed their new use as drug delivery system. Since this kind of materials consist on a disordered network of siloxane bridges and free silanol groups, these latter could be the reacting sites against appropriate guest chemical species. In this work, this application of mesoporous MCM-41 as drug delivery system has been studied from the host-guest interaction point of view. Two factors could affect that interaction: the structure of pore wall surface, and the functional groups present in the organic molecule. Hence, two approaches have been performed: functionalising pore wall groups and changing the drug.