Probing the interaction of oppositely charged gold nanoparticles with DPPG and DPPC Langmuir monolayers as cell membrane models.

The growing use of nanoparticles in a variety of applications calls for detailed studies of their toxicology, which in turn require understanding the interactions between nanoparticles and living cells. Since simulating the interaction with real cell membranes is rather complex, Langmuir monolayers (LMs) have been used to mimic the first barrier encountered by a nanoparticle as it approaches a biological membrane to assess molecular-level interactions. In this study, we show how oppositely charged gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) interact with monolayers of the zwitterionic dipalmitoylphosphatidyl choline (DPPC) and negatively charged dipalmitoylphosphatidyl glycerol (DPPG). The monolayers were spread on subphases containing two concentrations of either negatively charged Au-NPs coated with citrate anions or positively charged Au-NPs functionalized with the cationic polyelectrolyte poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH). For DPPG, electrostatic effects dominated which depended strongly on the NPs capping agent, being obviously larger for the positive nanoparticles. The in-plane elasticity for DPPG monolayers within the surface pressure range corresponding to real cell membranes increased with adsorption of positively charged NPs, but decreased with the negative ones. For the zwitterionic DPPC, on the other hand, significant effects only occurred for negatively charged NPs, including a decrease in elasticity. Therefore, it is concluded that the nature, namely the charge of the capping agents, is crucial for the interaction of charged NPs with the cell membrane.

A single-source route for the synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles using vegetable oil solvents.

We report a general method for the synthesis of metal oxide colloidal nanocrystals in sunflower oil using single-source precursors. In this research, iron oxide nanocrystals have been synthesized and characterized though this method can be extended to the synthesis of other common metal oxides such as ZnO and also to other types of vegetable oils as solvents. Using this method, nanoparticles with average diameters of 7 nm and 3 nm were obtained respectively for iron oxide and zinc oxide. The magnetic iron oxide phase was identified using powder XRD, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and magnetic measurements as maghemite as the main component. The magnetic measurements demonstrate the superparamagnetic behavior of the iron oxide nanoparticles. This synthetic approach is an interesting way to synthesize metal oxide nanocrystals in eco-friendly solvents of natural origin.

From single-molecule precursors to hybrid ZnS nanostructures.

A series of coordination compounds containing [Zn(amine)]2+ cationic complexes and alkyldithiocarbamates (RR'dtc-), as counter anions, are reported here: [Zn(amine)x][RR'dtc]2, where amine = ethylenediamine (en), diethylenetriamine (dien), 1,2-diaminopropane (dap) and, R,R' = ethyl (Et); butyl (Bu) and methyl (Me), hexyl (Hex). Hybrid nanoplates composed of hexagonal-ZnS nanoparticles and organic components were obtained after solution phase thermolysis of such precursors in oleylamine. These hybrid materials show quantum confinement effects in their optical spectra and convert into cubic-ZnS after further thermal treatment.