Visible and Near-Infrared Plasmon-Mediated Molecular Release from Cucurbit[6]uril Mesoporous Gated Systems.

Several hybrid mesoporous materials were synthesized in order to obtain a drug/cargo delivery system in which it is possible to control both the start and rate of the cargo release via surface plasmon (SPR) excitation. The successful incorporation of a thermoresponsive gate based on a cucurbit[6]uril-hexamethylene diamine (CB6-Hex) host-guest complex conferred the system with the desired "zero" premature release. This feature combined with the incorporation of gold nanorods (AuNR) and gold nanoparticles (AuNP) capable of acting as a heat source upon SPR excitation enabled a controlled cargo release system active to green and NIR irradiation. The results obtained prove that it is possible to disassemble the CB6-Hex gate complex in a few minutes using either green or NIR irradiation in order to activate the system and start the release process (that can take hours), as well as to further control the diffusion of Naproxen as a model drug.