Mesoporous silica nanoparticles have attracted considerable research attention due to their various applications. Surface modification of these mesoporous silica nanoparticles with polymers not only can improve their water dispersity but can also endow several new functions, such as drug loading and delivery or targeting capability. In this work, we report a novel strategy for the direct surface grafting of phospholipid choline-containing copolymers onto Santa Barbara Amorphous-15 (SBA-15) through surface initiated chain transfer free radical polymerization. The SBA-15 was synthesized by hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane in the presence of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly (ethylene glycol) (P123) under acidic synthetic conditions. Next, SBA-15 was subsequently modified with thiol groups by co-condensation with gamma-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane to obtain SBA-15-SH. Finally, the copolymers were grafted on SBA-15-SH through chain transfer free radical polymerization using 2-methacryloyloxy ethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and itaconic acid (IA) as monomers. The SBA-15 based polymer composites (SBA-15-SH-poly(MPC-co-IA)) were used as matrices for controlled release of cisplatin (CDDP). The data from a series of characterization techniques indicated that the monomers were successfully grafted onto SBA-15. The resultant SBA-15-SH-poly(MPC-co-IA) composites showed many remarkable physicochemical properties, such as high water dispersity, desirable biocompatibility and high drug loading capacity. These features provide the SBA-15-SH-poly(MPC-co-IA) composites with considerable potential for biomedical applications. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.