Article

Preparation of Super-Stable Gold Nanorods via Encapsulation into Block Copolymer Micelles.

School of Chemical Engineering and ‡Department of Chemistry, Purdue University , West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, United States.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (impact factor: 4.53). 04/2012; 4(4):1872-7. DOI:10.1021/am300198v pp.1872-7
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Gold nanorods (GNRs) have the potential to be used as imaging and hyperthermia agents for cancer theranostics. Clinical applications of as-synthesized GNRs (i.e., cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-coated GNRs) are currently limited by their cytotoxicity and insufficient colloidal stability. With an aim to address these problems, we developed a self-assembly processing technique for encapsulating GNRs in poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PEO-PnBA) block copolymer (BCP) micelles. This technique uses simple steps of solvent exchange processes, based on the known principles of block copolymer self-assembly. The resultant BCP-encapsulated GNRs were found to be stable against aggregation under physiological salt conditions for indefinite periods of time, which has rarely previously been achieved by other means of encapsulation.

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Keywords

aggregation
 
as-synthesized GNRs
 
BCP
 
Gold nanorods
 
hyperthermia agents
 
insufficient colloidal stability
 
known principles
 
physiological salt conditions
 
poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(n-butyl acrylate)
 
resultant BCP-encapsulated GNRs
 
self-assembly processing technique
 
simple steps
 
solvent exchange processes
 
stable
 

Dae Hwan Kim