Hierarchical self-assembled hollow hydroxyapatite flower microspheres containing terpene functional groups for efficient drug loading and pH-responsive drug release

Abstract In this paper, we fabricated hierarchical self-assembled hollow rose-like flower microspheres (HRFM) and hollow burr-like flower microspheres (HBFM) hydroxyapatite (HAP) using dehydroabietyl phosphate tri-ester (DDPT) as an organic phosphorus source, a regulating agent, and a soft template simultaneously via a one-step solvothermal method. The HBFM and HRFM have been explored for their application in drug delivery, using doxorubicin (DOX) as a drug model. The formation mechanisms of HRFM and HBFM were proposed on the basis of the electrostatic potential diagrams and self-assembled behavior of DDPT organic molecule. After the rosin-based terpene functional groups were incorporated, both HRFM and HBFM exhibited low cytotoxicity against Hela cell, pH-dependent sustained drug release properties, and high drug loading capacity. The drug-loading capacities of HBFM and HRFM were 116.6 mg g−1 and 148.3 mg g−1, respectively. Thus, the as-prepared HRFM and HBFM are promising for the applications in drug delivery.