Self-assembling process of flash nanoprecipitation in a multi-inlet vortex mixer to produce drug-loaded polymeric nanoparticles |
| |
Authors: | Hao Shen Seungpyo Hong Robert K Prud’homme Ying Liu |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA;(2) Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA;(3) Department of Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; |
| |
Abstract: | We present an experimental study of self-assembled polymeric nanoparticles in the process of flash nanoprecipitation using
a multi-inlet vortex mixer (MIVM). β-Carotene and polyethyleneimine (PEI) are used as a model drug and a macromolecule, respectively, and encapsulated in diblock
copolymers. Flow patterns in the MIVM are microscopically visualized by mixing iron nitrate (Fe(NO3)3) and potassium thiocyanate (KSCN) to precipitate Fe(SCN)
x
(3−x)+. Effects of physical parameters, including Reynolds number, supersaturation rate, interaction force, and drug-loading rate,
on size distribution of the nanoparticle suspensions are investigated. It is critical for the nanoprecipitation process to
have a short mixing time, so that the solvent replacement starts homogeneously in the reactor. The properties of the nanoparticles
depend on the competitive kinetics of polymer aggregation and organic solute nucleation and growth. We report the existence
of a threshold Reynolds number over which nanoparticle sizes become independent of mixing. A similar value of the threshold
Reynolds number is confirmed by independent measurements of particle size, flow-pattern visualization, and our previous numerical
simulation along with experimental study of competitive reactions in the MIVM. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|