Biomedical subjects

Jacob D Gibson

Publications and source records attributed to Jacob D Gibson.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Amphiphilicity-driven organization of nanoparticles into discrete assemblies.

We present a method for organizing metallic nanoparticles in solution that is based on the hydrophobic effect and does not require either hydrogen bonding or molecular recognition. When amphiphilic V-shaped molecules are attached to a gold cluster, an aggregation process ensues in aqueous solution and leads to the formation of well-defined cylindrical and vesicular nanoarrays of particles. The metallic clusters densely pack at the boundary separating the hydrophobic core from the hydrophilic corona of the hybrid micelle-like aggregates. This design allows one to assemble and disassemble the nanoparticles in a reversible manner and control the size and the morphology of the arrays by changing the conditions of the solution preparation. The versatility of this method is demonstrated by its applicability to different metals with covalently attached amphiphilic arms with various chemical compositions (PS-PEO and PB-PEO) and molecular weights.

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PubMed2006

Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers of gold nanoparticles with amphiphilic shells from V-shaped binary polymer arms.

Gold nanoparticles functionalized with amphiphilic polybutadiene-poly(ethylene glycol) (PB-PEG) V-shaped arms formed stable Langmuir monolayers at the air-water and the air-solid interfaces. At these interfaces, the binary arms vertically segregated into a dense polymer corona, which surrounded the gold nanoparticles, preventing their large-scale agglomeration and keeping individual nanoparticles well-separated from each other and forming flattened, pancake nanostructures. The presence of both PEG and PB chains in the close proximity to the gold core was confirmed by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, whereas the AFM phase contrast images revealed the presence of 2 nm gold cores surrounded by the polymer shell with the diameter of 11 nm. We suggest that the amphiphilic shell drives their spontaneous organization into discrete 2D pancake-like hybrid structures that measured up to 10 microm in diameter and had a high packing density of gold clusters.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Amphiphilic gold nanoparticles with V-shaped arms.

Here we describe a very efficient method to produce well-defined amphiphilic gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with an equal number of hydrophobic and hydrophilic arms which are distributed along the surface of a 2-nm gold core in an alternating fashion. The strategy involves direct coupling of V-shaped block copolymer amphiphile 2 with a carboxylic group at its junction point to mercaptophenol-terminated Au NPs. The reaction proceeds under mild esterification conditions and yields the product with a molecular weight of 40 kDa, high grafting density (2.9 chains/nm2), and extremely low polydispersity (1.07). The big advantage of this approach is the opportunity to avoid the use of expensive and often inaccessible polymeric thiols. The method described here is applicable to any carboxyl-terminated molecules and can be used for the preparation of complex, yet well-defined, macromolecular hybrid structures such as 1 (Au(PB-PEG)n). The new product, which was characterized by a combination of SEC, NMR, UV-vis, DLS, and TEM, represents a unique example of gold nanoparticles soluble in any conventional solvent.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

From small building blocks to complex molecular architecture.

[reaction: see text] We describe a synthesis of a dendrimer-like amphiphile containing a flat rigid core and 12 hydrophobic and hydrophilic arms. We employ a modular approach based on stepwise protection chemistry starting from simple building blocks. The key feature of this approach is the absence of a polymerization step, which makes it applicable for linear monofunctionalized precursors of any kind. This strategy also allows for precise control of the number of arms and ensures their alternating arrangement.

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