Design and engineering of nanoparticles capable of displaying multiple functionalities is of great interest to many applications such as soldier protective clothing resembling a second skin, biosensors, and biomedical applications of targeted drug delivery, diagnostic imaging and molecular diagnostics.  However, combining multiple functional components onto a single nanoparticle has been a challenging task due to the loss of one or more functionality in the process of introducing another functionality and the inability to control the introduction of more than one functionality onto a nanoparticle. We report a flexible approach to constructing multifunctional nanoparticles employing the machinery of molecular self-assembly, starting with individually functionalized block copolymers. The commercially available polyethylene oxide - polypropylene oxide - polyethylene oxide block copolymer (Pluronic F 127) is used as the building block of the nanoparticles and the functionalities are provided by other chemical moieties conjugated to it such as folic acid, transferrin or MRI contrasting agent. The conjugated block copolymer is prepared by attaching to the end of the block copolymer each functional moiety via degradable linkers. The self-assembly of the conjugated block copolymer is promoted by solvent polarity control to generate the multifunctional nanoparticle.  Quantitative analysis of the amount of each conjugated functionality is determined by spectrophotometry.  The self-assembly method allows us to vary the relative proportion of functionalities.  The combination of the ability to control the nanoparticle size and shape and the ability to perform multiple functions render these nanoparticles interesting candidates for numerous applications.

Constructing multifunctional nanoparticles by molecular self-assembly

244th National Meeting (2012)

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