Crystalline mesoporous oxide based materials useful for the fixation and controlled release of drugs

A crystalline mesoporous silica material being obtained by assembly of nanometer size building units having zeolite framework, said crystalline mesoporous silica material having two or more levels of porosity and structural order, and wherein the internal structure of said nanometer size building units does not give rise to Bragg type diffraction in a powder X-ray diffraction pattern of said crystalline mesoporous silica material.

A process for making a crystalline mesoporous silica material, said crystalline mesoporous silica material being obtained by assembly of nanometer size building units having zeolite framework, said crystalline mesoporous silica material having two or more levels of porosity and structural order, wherein said building units are nanoslabs of substantially uniform size having the Silicalite-1 zeolite framework, comprising the steps of (a) generating said nanoslabs having said zeolite framework by tetrapropylammonium-ion mediation and (b) assembling said nanoslabs through interaction with a cationic surfactant or triblock copolymer molecule.

A substantially crystalline mesoporous oxide based material being obtained by assembly of nanometer size building units having zeolite framework, wherein said assembly proceeds in the presence of one or more amphiphilic non-anionic surfactants, wherein said substantially crystalline mesoporous oxide based material has two or more levels of porosity and structural order, and wherein the internal structure of said nanometer size building units does not give rise to Bragg type diffraction in a powder X-ray diffraction pattern of said substantially crystalline mesoporous oxide based material.

A process for making a substantially crystalline mesoporous oxide based material being obtained by assembly of nanometer size building units having zeolite framework, wherein said assembly proceeds in the presence of one or more amphiphilic non-anionic surfactants, wherein said substantially crystalline mesoporous oxide based material has two or more levels of porosity and structural order, and wherein the internal structure of said nanometer size building units does not give rise to Bragg type diffraction in a powder X-ray diffraction pattern of said substantially crystalline mesoporous oxide based material, comprising the steps of (a) generating said nanometer size building units having zeolite framework by means of a mediating agent selected from the group consisting of tetraalkylammonium ions, tetraalkylphosphonium ions or gemini (dimeric) tetraalkylammonium ions wherein the alkyl group has from 2 to 4 carbon atoms, and (b) assembling said nanometer size building units through interaction with said one or more amphiphilic non-anionic substances to yield a mesoporous oxide based material.

A pharmaceutical composition comprising a biologically active species and a substantially ordered mesoporous oxide based material, wherein said ordered oxide based material has one or more levels of porosity or structural order, provided that when said ordered oxide based material has a single level of porosity and structural order it is obtained in the absence of an alpha-tocopherol polyethylene glycol ester templating biomolecule.