Functionalized Surfactant Based Catanionic Vesicles as the Soft Template for the Synthesis of Hollow Silica Nanospheres as New Age Drug Carrier

Abstract Conceptualizing surfactant vesicles as soft templates to construct nanometer sized hollow inorganic spheres require understanding the interactions between vesicle bilayers and growing material. Herein we had investigated the spontaneous vesicle formation in an aqueous catanionic system, composed of strategically designed cationic ester functionalized morpholinium based surfactant, 4-methyl-4-(2-(octyloxy)-2-oxoethyl)morpholine-4-ium bromide [C8EMorph][Br] and conventional anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate. These catanionic vesicles were characterized using state of the art analytical techniques including small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and then used as the soft templates to synthesize hollow silica-nanospheres (HSNS) with size ranging from 45 to 85 nm and pore volume of 0.989 cm3•g−1. The HSNS thus prepared were used to encapsulate an anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac sodium. The subtle combination of the hollow interior with the mesoporous shells of the HSNS circumvent the limitations of traditional drug delivery system and could open new promising prospects in various fields including biomedical one.