<br/>Inorganic nanoparticles are widely used as research tools in life science, including therapy and diagnosis. It is well known that the nanoparticle surface is one of the most important parameters to define their biological fate. In this talk we will present a general method to polymer coat noble metal nanoparticles (NPs). One of the most widely used approach to stabilize NPs in aqueous solution involves wrapping NPs with amphiphilic polymers. This methodology has been extensively employed for coating of NPs capped with aliphatic chains, thereby enabling phase transfer of NPs from an organic solvent to aqueous solution. The polymer coating approach is herein extended to NPs originally synthesized in aqueous solution by a two-step method. Firstly, NPs are subjected to aqueous-to-organic phase transfer. The phase transfer protocol was demonstrated for NPs made of different materials (Au and Ag), sizes (up to 100nm) and shapes (spheres, rods and flat-triangular prisms). In a second step NPs are coated with an amphiphilic polymer. The colloidal stability of surface modified colloids was assayed against different media of biological relevance. The biocompatibility of polymer coated NPs was studied in cancer and non-cancer cells.

Surface modification of inorganic nanoparticles for biomedical applications

249th National Meeting (2015)

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