Synthesis of Nanocarriers Loaded with Anti-Cancer Drugs by Using Functionalization or Conjugations, Encapsulation Methods

Recently, inorganic porous nanocomposites are gaining importance in biomedical applications. This is due to several advantages such as high surface area, designable pore structures, and robust mechanical/chemical stability with adjustable optical and electrical properties. Inorganic nanoparticles are interesting as nanocarriers for drug delivery due to the chemical, mechanical strength, microbial resistance, and biocompatibility. The presence of large surface area, structured pores of tunable sizes, ability to functionalize with different chain length of chemical moieties has been an attractive feature of nanoparticles in nanotherapeutic area of research. Drug loading on porous structured silica requires ambient condition that minimize the drug disintegration. An effective nanocarrier needs to exhibit both spatial placement (target specificity) and temporal delivery (sustainability and controllability). In this chapter we have discussed several nanocarriers based on structured silica, metal oxides, carbon, liposomes, nucleic acids, and polymeric species based therapeutic tools has been reported for treating chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular, and diabetics. In addition, hexagonal shaped mesoporous silica (SiM41 and SBA-15), cubic shaped mesosilica (SBA-16 and MCM-48) with high textural properties are reported for multifunctional drug delivery applications are also discussed.