Hollow mesoporous silica capsules HMSC are potential drug transport vehicles due to their biocompatibility, high loading capacity and sufficient stability in biological milieu. Herein, we report the synthesis of ellipsoid shaped HMSC aspect ratio amp; 8764;2 performed using hematite particles as solid templates that were coated with a conformal silica shell through cross condensation reactions. For obtaining hollow silica capsules, the iron oxide core was removed by acidic leaching. Gas sorption studies on HMSC revealed mesoscopic pores main pore width amp; 8764;38 and a high surface area of 308.8 m2 g amp; 8722;1. Cell uptake of dye labeled HMSC was confirmed by incubating them with human cervical cancer HeLa cells and analyzing the internalization through confocal microscopy. The amphiphilic nature of HMSC for drug delivery applications was tested by loading antibiotic ciprofloxacin and anticancer curcumin compounds as model drugs for hydrophilic and hydrophobic therapeutics, respectively. The versatility of HMSC in transporting hydrophilic as well as hydrophobic drugs and a pH dependent drug release over several days under physiological conditions was demonstrated in both cases by UV vis spectroscopy. Ciprofloxacin loaded HMSC were additionally evaluated towards Gram negative E. coli bacteria and demonstrated their efficacy even at low concentrations 10 amp; 956;g ml amp; 8722;1 in inhibiting complete bacterial growth over 18 hour
