Drug nanocrystals for the formulation of poorly soluble drugs and its application as a potential drug delivery system

Formulation of poorly soluble drugs is a general intractable problem in pharmaceutical field, especially those compounds poorly soluble in both aqueous and organic media. It is difficult to resolve this problem using conventional formulation approaches, so many drugs are abandoned early in discovery. Nanocrystals, a new carrier-free colloidal drug delivery system with a particle size ranging from 100 to 1000 nm, is thought as a viable drug delivery strategy to develop the poorly soluble drugs, because of their simplicity in preparation and general applicability. In this article, the product techniques of the nanocrystals were reviewed and compared, the special features of drug nanocrystals were discussed. The researches on the application of the drug nanocrystals to various administration routes were described in detail. In addition, as introduced later, the nanocrystals could be easily scaled up, which was the prerequisite to the development of a delivery system as a market product.     

Effect of interfacial alloying on the surface plasmon resonance of nanocrystalline Au-Ag multilayer thin films

Nanocrystalline Au and Ag in multilayer thin film form with Au/Ag/Au structure were prepared by high pressure (∼40 Pa) d.c. sputtering techniques. The Ag concentrations in Ag_xAu_1-x films were changed from x = 0 to 1. These multilayer films with varying Ag concentration showed significant changes in microstructures obtained from TEM and XRD analyses. The optical absorption spectra of these multilayer films showed a single plasmon band confirming the formation of Au-Ag alloy. We ascribe this alloying to the interfacial reactions in nanophase limited at the Au-Ag interface. The red-shift and broadening of the plasmon bands with the increase in silver concentration could be associated to the increase in size of the nanoparticles and its distribution. The observed red shift in the plasmon band may be associated with the change in electronic structure at the Au-Ag interface due to configuration mixing of the atomic energy levels of Au and Ag. Received 17 October 2002 / Received in final form 26 February 2003 Published online 23 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: msakp@mahendra.iacs.res.in     

A qualitative model for the growth mechanism of silver clusters in polymer solution

A simple and high-reproducible method for the synthesis of polymer-protected silver cluster of controlled size is described. UV-visible spectroscopy has been used for investigating the influence of the aging of the protective poly(vinylpyrrolidone) layer on the cluster growth rate at different reaction temperatures and poly(vinylpyrrolidone)/ethylene glycol weight ratios. The obtained results show that the aging time of the polymeric stabilizer solution plays a fundamental role in the reproducibility of the cluster growth process. A model for the metal cluster formation-grow process is also proposed. Received 18 July 2001 and Received in final form 3 October 2001     

不同形态SnO2纳米晶的制备

In this paper, we report our research on morphologically selective synthesis of nanocrystalline SnO2 by the combination of hydrothermal preparation and calcinated process. We firstly prepared SnO2 nanocrystals by the hydrothermal method at 140 ℃ for 3 h, using SnCI4 as the reactant. With the initial pH of 1.8 or 1.34, we prepared uniform and well-dispersed SnO2(tetragonal) nanocrystals, with similar size of about 3 nm, as determined by TEM. However, after being calcinated at 500 ℃ for 2 h, specimen 1 prepared at pH＝1.8 showed the rod-like shape with an average size of 5 nm×20 nm, while the other one(specimen 2)prepaed at pH＝1.34 showed a granular shape with an average size of 10 nm. XRD experiments showed that specimen 1 had a new diffraction peak after calcination, which was contributed by the (023) face of orthorhombic SnO2. The experiment results indicated that the morpholgy of SnO2 nanocrystals after calcination was closely related to the initial acidity of the reaction solution, possibly due to the difference in surface properties, e.g. the difference in crystalline faces exposed to the surface of particals, under different hydrothermal conditions.     

UV-laser-light-controlled photoluminescence of metal oxide nanoparticles in different gas atmospheres: BaTiO3, SrTiO3 and HfO2

The photoluminescence (PL) enhancement has been studied at room temperature using various specimen atmospheres (O₂ gas, CO₂ gas, CO₂–H₂ mixture gas, Ar–H₂ mixture gas and vacuum) under 325 nm laser light irradiation on various metal oxides. Of them, the results obtained for BaTiO₃ nanocrystals, SrTiO₃ ones and HfO₂ powder crystal are given in the present paper. Their PL were considerably increased in intensity by irradiation of 325 nm laser light in CO₂ gas and CO₂–H₂ mixture gas. The cause of the PL intensity enhancements is discussed in the light of the exciton theory, the defect chemistry and the photocatalytic theory. The results may be applied for the utilization of greenhouse gas (CO₂) and the optical sensor for CO₂ gas.     

六方相LaOF纳米体系中Sm3+/Eu3+的能量转移效应

为了探讨Sm3+/Eu3+共掺体系的荧光光谱特性和能量转移机理,采用水热-烧结法制备了Sm3+/Eu3+共掺LaOF纳米晶体颗粒,并用X射线衍射和透射电子显微镜对纳米晶体颗粒进行了表征.结果显示,所制备的纳米晶体颗粒呈六方相,均匀性和分散性良好,平均粒径为70 nm左右.通过442 nm连续光激发,在六方相LaOF:Sm3+/Eu3+纳米体系中实现了Sm3+离子向Eu3+离子的能量转移,观测到了因能量转移效应而产生的Eu3+离子5D0能级的荧光发射谱线.光谱学研究发现,能量转移源于Sm3+离子4G5/2能级向Eu3+离子5D0能级的弛豫过程,并且随着受主离子Eu3+浓度的增加,能量转移效率也随之提高.     

Leaf‐like copper oxide nanocrystals synthesized by a gas‐liquid diffusion method at room temperature

The leaf‐like copper oxide (CuO) nanocrystals have been synthesized by a gas‐liquid diffusion method in pure aqueous solution at room temperature. The structure, morphologies and related properties of the as‐prepared crystals were characterized with X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). The influence of copper concentration was investigated, which plays an important role in the formation of nanostructured CuO crystals. Only when the copper concentration was low enough (0.005 M) that the leaf‐like CuO could be obtained directly. Additionally, a growth mechanism of CuO was also proposed based on the observed results.     

Novel radical tandem 1,6-enynes thioacylation/cyclization: Au–Pd nanoparticles catalysis versus thermal activation as a function of the substrate specificity

We studied the reactivity of 1,6-enynes with thioacetic acid (AcSH) under either thermal conditions or in the presence of catalytic amounts of supported Au or Au–Pd nanoparticles (NPs) under mild conditions. The 1,6-enynes undergo a tandem thioacylation/cyclization to original cyclic products featuring either a homoallylic thioester function or an enol thioester function depending on the substrate topology. Interestingly, the former process was found more efficient when performed in the presence of Au–Pd NPs while the latter process can be efficiently carried out under thermal conditions (100 °C). The reaction proceeds by a radical mechanism and the presence of precious metal NPs seems to stabilize the formation of free radical intermediates, as supported by experimental and theoretical results.     

Intrinsic defect related luminescence in ZrO2

The studies of ZrO₂ and yttrium stabilized ZrO₂ nanocrystals luminescence as well as yttrium stabilized single crystal luminescence and induced absorption showed that the intrinsic defects are responsible for luminescence at room temperature. These defects form a quasi-continuum of states in ZrO₂ band gap and are the origin of the luminescence spectrum dependence on the excitation energy. Luminescence centers are oxygen vacancies related but not the vacancies themselves. At room temperature, in ZrO₂, deep traps for electrons and holes exist. The oxygen vacancies are proposed to be the traps for electrons.     

Structure and optical properties of polyvinyle alcohol capped GaAs nanocrystals

Polyvinyl alcohol capped GaAs nanocrystals, assembled in thin film form, have been synthesized by a simple electrochemical technique. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study reveals the presence of 20–50 nm size GaAs nanoparticles embedded in the polymer host. Selected area diffraction pattern contains a series of spotted rings indicative of textured nature of the thin film. The excitonic peak broadening and the blue shift of its spectral position with respect to the bulk band gap depend upon the concentration of the polyvinyle alcohol. The X-ray photoelectron spectrum shows C(1s) peak corresponding to the surface bonded polyvinyl alcohol along with the Ga3d and As3d peaks of the GaAs core. Room temperature micro-Raman spectrum shows one surface phonon mode that shifts to the lower energy side with decrease in the crystallite size.