The suitability of using mesoporous silicon oxycarbide materials as controlled drug delivery systems is reported here. The silicon oxycarbide materials are known for their nanostructured nature composed of silica and carbon nanodomains in an amorphous matrix. The SiOC present a large surface area and a bimodal porous structure with pores of 6 and 100 nm size. The surface modification of the SiOC with amino-containing silanes leads to a similar porous structure with the grafted silane adopting a specific configuration depending on the amount of silane. The availability of the amino groups to interact with the loaded drug molecule has been determined through infrared spectroscopy whereas the amount of drug adsorbed on the material has been calculated through UV-vis spectroscopy and thermogravimetry. The materials are biologically inactive but they can host a large amount of active drug molecules per cm(2) into their porous structure. The adsorption kinetics have been compared with mesoporous silica and mesoporous active carbon and we have deducted that the drug penetrates faster in the SiOC than in the AC and the adsorption mechanism occurs via acceptor-donor interactions between the drug molecules and the surface of the materials. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.