## 3 Results and Discussion  
The nanoplatform was prepared in multiple steps, as shown in Scheme 1. First, propylene was anchored to the outer surface of the MSNs, followed by CTAB extraction using ion exchange process via ammonium nitrate in ethanol, to allow guest molecules incubate in the internal pore surface. Amino groups were then reacted with BIBB to initiate the surface. The SI-ARGET-ATRP technique was used to grow PDEAEMA brushes on the MSNs' outer surface, to work as gate keeper for guest molecules. Bromine atom-terminated PDEAEMA chains were substituted to amines, via NaN\({}_{3}\) and PPh\({}_{3}\). Amine group-terminated PDEAEMA chains were reacted with ethylene sulfide to have thiol groups at the end of polymer chains. POEGMEA was capped onto the outer surface of the nanoparticles via thiol-ene chemistry, thiol-Michael reaction mediated by dimethylphenyl phosphine. FTIR analysis for the prepared samples was performed to confirm the organic molecules attached to the MSNs outer surface (Figure 1). For MSNs IR spectra, wide bands between 1000 and 1250 cm\({}^{-1}\) were assigned to stretching bands of Si-O-Si, and the band at \(\sim\)800 cm\({}^{-1}\) was assigned to the stretching vibration of Si-O. The C-H stretching vibration at \(\sim\)2900 cm\({}^{-1}\) disappeared after the extraction process. New peaks were observed at \(\sim\)1450 and \(\sim\)1380 cm\({}^{-1}\), corresponding to C-H bending vibration of the methyl group after the initiation step. After the ATR polymerization process, a new peak was observed at \(\sim\)1730 cm\({}^{-1}\) in all polymer-coated MSNs samples, appointed to -C=O stretching vibrations. Figure 1: The Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra of the nanoparticles: (black line) MSNs with the template, (red line) CTAB free initiated MSNs, (blue line) MSNs–PDEAEMA. Nanoparticle morphology (size and shape) was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Figure 2A shows the SEM images of the as-made MSNs particles with a particle size ranging from 250 nm up to approximately 350 nm with an almost spherical shape. The MSNs-PDEAEMA nanoparticles have a larger average particle size, ranging from 270 to 360 nm, as illustrated in Figure 2B. The TEM technique was also used to examine the morphology and pore structure of the MSNs and MSNs-PDEAEMA. TEM images for MSNs showed almost spherical particles, having a size ranging from 250 nm to 350 nm and a clear pore structure with pore size of ca. 5 nm (Figure 3A). A thin organic layer (shell) could be seen on the outer surface of MSNs-PDEAEMA (Figure 3B). The dry thickness of polymeric shell was estimated to be ca. 20 nm. Narrow-scan x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra of MSNs-PDEAEMA, MSNs-PDEAEMA-SH, and MSNs-PDEAEMA-POEGMEA was used to confirm the successful modification of the surface of the polymer brushes with POEGMEA, as illustrated in Figure 4. XPS spectrum of C1s peak for MSNs-PDEAEMA was fitted with three components at binding energy 284.8, 286.1, and 288.0 eV, appointed to C-H, C-N/C-O, and O=C-O, respectively (Figure 4A). The peaks corresponding to C-N and C-O were overlapped; hence they were fitted using a single component. The calculated peak area ratios of the polymer composition were found to be in reasonable agreement with theoretical peak area ratios. No noticeable changes were observed in the deconvoluted peak after MSNs-PDEAEMA-SH, as shown in Figure 4B. After POEGMEA attachment, the C1s spectra was fitted with four peaks, corresponding to C-H, C-N, C-O, and O=C-O at binding energy of 284.9, 285.8, 286.3, and 288.6 eV, respectively. It was observed that the peak intensity of C-O increased as a result of the presence of additional C-O bonds contributed by the POEGMEA molecules (which confers seven polymerized ethylene glycol units per molecule), as shown in Figure 4C. Figure 3: The morphology and mesostructure of nanoparticles: (**A**) TEM image of MSNs, and (**B**) TEM image of PDEAEMA–MSNs.