Accepted Article Selective etching of SiO 2 nanospheres as reservoirs for pH- sensitive release of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II). Short title: Selective etching of SiO 2 for pH sensitive release Daniela Jazmín Hernández-Castillo a , Mayra Angélica Alvarez-Lemus a, *, Erick Natividad De la Cruz-Hernández b , Rosendo López-González a , Cinthia García Mendoza a a Laboratorio de Nanotecnología, Centro de Investigación de Ciencia y Tecnología Avanzada de Tabasco (CICTAT), División Académica de Ingeniería y Arquitectura. Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Cunduacán, Tabasco, México. b Laboratorio de Epigenética Molecular. División Académica Multidisciplinaria de Comalcalco. Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco. Comalcalco, Tabasco, México. *Corresponding Author: Mayra A. Alvarez Lemus, Centro de Investigación de Ciencia y Tecnología Avanzada de Tabasco (CICTAT), Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Cunduacán, Tabasco, México. Tel: +52 1 55 3039 2067. E-mail: mayra.alvarez@ujat.mx ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Selective etching of silica nanoparticles allows to form mesoporosity increasing the loading capability of nanoparticles for further drug release applications. By coating such mesoporous silica nanoparticles with biocompatible pH-sensitive polymers, the selectivity of drug delivery systems This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/jctb.5934