Open Access Article
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Retraction: Triple-responsive inorganic–organic hybrid microcapsules as a biocompatible smart platform for the delivery of small molecules
Alexander S. Timin*a,
Albert R. Muslimovb,
Kirill V. Lepikb,
Natalia N. Saprykinac,
Vladislav S. Sergeevbd,
Boris V. Afanasyevb,
Alexander D. Vilesovcd and
Gleb B. Sukhorukov*ade
aRASA Center in Tomsk, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Lenin Avenue, 30, Tomsk, Russian Federation. E-mail: a_timin@mail.ru
bFirst I. P. Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg, Lev Tolstoy str., 6/8, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation
cInstitution of Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Macromolecular Compounds Russian Academy of Sciences (IMC RAS), Bolshoy Prosp., 31, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation
dRASA Center in St. Petersburg, Peter The Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Polytechnicheskaya, 29, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
eSchool of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK. E-mail: g.sukhorukov@qmul.ac.uk
First published on 10th February 2026
Abstract
Retraction of ‘Triple-responsive inorganic–organic hybrid microcapsules as a biocompatible smart platform for the delivery of small molecules’ by Alexander S. Timin et al., J. Mater. Chem. B, 2016, 4, 7270–7282, https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TB02289H.
The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this Journal of Materials Chemistry B article due to concerns with the reliability of the data.
The authors have admitted that Fig. 3 and Fig. S7 contain modifications, as single capsules taken from other visual fields of the same sample were added without duplication and cloning to make all capsules assembled and collaged in one composite figure. They state this compilation was made for illustrative reasons only, i.e., to have more capsules per image.
They have also confirmed that Fig. 7 contains an incorrect dot-plot of FSCs vs. SSCs for HeLa cells (6 h), as one image of the dot-plot of FSCs vs. SSCs for HeLa cells (control) was mistakenly taken twice from the same data set, omitting the correct image for the dot-plot of FSCs vs. SSCs for HeLa cells (6 h).
We have found further concerns with Fig. 1(a) and (f) and Fig. S2(b) indicative of image manipulation with repeats both between figures and within individual images.
Given the number and significance of these concerns, the Editor has lost confidence that the findings presented in this paper are reliable.
The authors were informed about the retraction of the article but have not responded.
Signed: Michaela Mühlberg, Executive Editor, Journal of Materials Chemistry B
Date: 29th January 2026
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