Supplementary data

Amine-functionalized, porous silica-coated NaYF4:Yb/Er upconversion

nanophosphors for efficient delivery of doxorubicin and curcumin

Kumbam Lingeshwar Reddy,#a Peeyush Kumar Sharma,#b Ashutosh Singh,#a Ajay Kumar,a
Konathala Ravi Shankar,a,d Yashveer Singh,b,c Neha Garga*and Venkata Krishnana*

a
School of Basic Sciences and Advanced Materials Research Center, Indian Institute of
Technology Mandi, Kamand, Mandi-175005, Himachal Pradesh, India
b
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Nangal Road, Rupnagar-
140001, Punjab, India
c
Center for Biomedical Engineering (CBME), Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Nangal Road,
Rupnagar-140001, Punjab, India
d
Current address: School of Nano Sciences, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar 382030,
India

#
Equal contributing authors
*Corresponding authors
Email address: vkn@iitmandi.ac.in (Venkata Krishnan)
Email address: neha@iitmandi.ac.in (Neha Garg)

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 Index
Contents Page no.
Fig. S1. FT-IR spectrum of amine-functionalized UCNP@mSiO2. S3
Fig. S2. Particle size distribution of (A) UCNP and (B) UCNP@mSiO2. S4
Fig. S3. Elemental mapping of UCNP@mSiO2 nanoparticles. S5
Fig. S4. EDAX spectra of (A) UCNP and (B) UCNP@mSiO2. S6
Fig. S5. Drug loading studies using UCNP@mSiO2 of (A) DOX and (B) CCM. S7
Fig. S6. UCL spectra of drug-loaded UCNP@mSiO2. S8
Fig. S7. Hydrodynamic particle size distribution analysis of UCNP@mSiO 2 S9
nanoparticles, and DOX and CCM-loaded UCNP@mSiO 2 nanoparticles after (A) drug
loading and (A) drug release.
Fig. S8. Mean fluorescence intensity profiles of (A) free DOX and DOX-UCNP@mSiO2 S10
and (B) free CCM and CCM-UCNP@mSiO2 in HeLa cells (p≤0.05).
Table S1. Comparative account of drug release. S11
Table S2. Relative concentration of (A) free DOX and (B) free CCM to the loading S12
percentage of respective drug in the drug-loaded UCNP@mSiO 2 (DOX- UCNP@mSiO2
and CCM- UCNP@mSiO2).
References S13

S2
Fig. S1. FT-IR spectrum of amine-functionalized UCNP@mSiO2.

S3
Fig. S2. Particle size distribution of (A) UCNP and (B) UCNP@mSiO2.

S4
Fig. S3. Elemental mapping of UCNP@mSiO2 nanoparticles.

S5
Fig. S4. Energy dispersive X-ray spectra (EDAX) of (A) UCNPs and (B) UCNP@mSiO2.

S6
Fig. S5. Drug loading studies using UCNP@mSiO2 of (A) DOX and (B) CCM.

S7
Fig. S6. UCL spectra of drug-loaded UCNP@mSiO2 of DOX (blue) and CCM (green).

S8
Fig. S7. Hydrodynamic particle size distribution analysis of UCNP@mSiO 2 nanoparticles, DOX
and CCM-loaded UCNP@mSiO2 nanoparticles: (A) after drug loading and (B) after drug release.

S9
Fig. S8. Mean fluorescence intensity profiles of (A) free DOX and DOX-UCNP@mSiO 2 and (B)
free CCM and CCM-UCNP@mSiO2 in HeLa cells (p≤0.05).

S10
Table S1. Comparative account of drug release.
Drug delivery system pH Cumulative release Reference
(dissolution media)
Doxorubin in MCM- pH 7.4 ~30% (after 72 hours) 1
41-Gd pH 5 ~40% (after 72 hours)
Doxorubicin in pH 7.4 ~38% (after 72 hours) 1
MCM-48-Gd pH 5 ~ 48% (after 72 hours)
Doxorubicin in pH 7.4 24% (after 24 hours) 2
UCNP@mSiO2-PEG pH 5 73% (after 24 hours)
Doxorubicin in pH 7.4 5% (after 17 hours) 3
UCNP@mSiO2-azo
Doxorubicin in pH 7.4 30% (after 48 hours) Present work
UCNP@mSiO2 pH 6.4 41% (after 48 hours)

S11
Table S2. Relative concentration of (A) free DOX and (B) free CCM to the loading percentage of
respective drug in drug-loaded UCNP@mSiO2 (DOX- UCNP@mSiO2 and CCM- UCNP@mSiO2).

A Concentration of DOX- Concentration of free

UCNP@mSiO2 DOX wrt 17.4%
loading*
10 µg mL-1 1.75 µg mL-1

5 µg mL-1 0.87 µg mL-1

2 µg mL-1 0.348 µg mL-1

0.5 µg mL-1 0.087 µg mL-1

B Concentration of CCM- Concentration of free

UCNP@mSiO2 CCM wrt 8.1% loading
10 µg mL-1 0.81 µg mL-1

5 µg mL-1 0.405 µg mL-1

2 µg mL-1 0.162 µg mL-1

0.5 µg mL-1 0.0405 µg mL-1

*
wrt: with respect to

S12
References
1. N. Niu, F. He, P.a. Ma, S. Gai, G. Yang, F. Qu, Y. Wang, J. Xu, P. Yang, Up-Conversion
nanoparticle assembled mesoporous silica composites: synthesis, plasmon-enhanced
luminescence, and near-infrared light triggered drug release, ACS Appl. Mater. & Inter. 6 (2014)
3250-3262.
2. C. Li, D. Yang, P.A. Ma, Y. Chen, Y. Wu, Z. Hou, Y. Dai, J. Zhao, C. Sui, J. Lin, Multifunctional
upconversion mesoporous silica nanostructures for dual modal imaging and in vivo drug
delivery, Small 9 (2013) 4150-4159.
3. J. Liu, W. Bu, L. Pan, J. Shi, NIR-triggered anticancer drug delivery by upconverting
nanoparticles with integrated azobenzene-modified mesoporous silica, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,
52 (2013) 4375-4379.

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