Nanoparticles have attracted significant interest in biology and medicine as imaging or diagnostic tools or for drug delivery. A fundamental understanding of the basic characteristics that determine particle toxicity, cell uptake, trafficking and body distribution, however, is largely lacking and it is still challenging to design nanoparticles with predictable properties. This contribution will describe a combinatorial strategy towards chemically diverse, polymer-coated nanoparticles, which is based on the self-assembly of a library of side-chain functional polymethacrylamides prepared via RAFT polymerization onto pre-fabricated gold nanoparticles. The gold core allows high throughput screening of the solution properties of the particles and provides excellent contrast for transmission electron microscopy studies to monitor cell uptake. The results of high-throughput screening experiments on the aggregation behavior of the particles as well as of preliminary toxicity and cell uptake studies will be presented and the implications for designing particles targeted to cross specific cell barriers discussed.

Polymer-coated gold nanoparticle libraries - versatile materials platforms for biological applications

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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