0000000000925489
AUTHOR
N. Grimaldi
Radiation engineered nanogels as platforms for medical diagnostics and therapeutic nanodevices
A scalable, single step, synthetic approach for the manufacture of biocompatible, functionalized microgels and nanogels has been developed. Pulsed EB irradiation of PVP aqueous solutions, at relatively low energies per pulse and doses within the sterilization dose range, has led to a variety of ‘as-born’ sterile, functional nanostructures that exhibit a combination of favourable properties which make them suitable as biomedical nanocarriers. Reactive functional groups have been generated by graft copolymerization of functional acrylic monomers. These groups can be used to attach fluorescent probes to the NPs, to bioconjugate ligands of specific cell receptors and to incorporate therapeutics…
Studies of network organization and dynamics of e-beam crosslinked PVPs: From macro to nano
Abstract In this work the influence of poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) concentration in water on the organization and dynamics of the corresponding macro-/nanogel networks has been systematically investigated. Irradiation has been performed at the same irradiation dose (within the sterilization dose range) and dose rate. In the selected irradiation conditions, the transition between macroscopic gelation and micro-/nanogels formation is observed just below the critical overlap concentration (∼1 wt%), whereas the net prevalence of intra-molecular over inter-molecular crosslinking occurs at a lower polymer concentration (below 0.25 wt%). Dynamic–mechanical spectroscopy has been applied as a cl…
Glutathione-sensitive nanogels for drug release
Nanogels (NGs) synthesized by pulsed electron-beam irradiation of semi-dilute poly (N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) aqueous solutions, at relatively low energy per pulse and doses within the sterilization dose range, represent a very interesting family of polymeric nanocarriers. Ionizing irradiation-induced crosslinking of PVP allows to control particle size, and surface chemistry of the polymer nanoparticles without making use of catalysts, organic solvents or surfactants, and with beneficial effects onto the purity and hence biocompatibility of the final products obtained. Furthermore, the availability of reactive functional groups, either generated by the radiation or purposely grafted via co…