Abstract
This work presents a simple one-pot protocol to achieve core-doped shell nanohybrids comprising silver nanoparticles, curcumin and thermoresponsive polymeric shell taking advantage of the reducing properties of phenolic curcumin substance and its ability to decorate metallic surfaces. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized, via sodium citrate and silver nitrate addition into a boiling aqueous solution of curcumin, monomers and surfactant. Curcumin and sodium citrate promoted silver nucleation, acting as reducing and stabilizing agents. These curcumin-capped AgNPs enabled, after adding the radical polymerization initiator, the assembling of the growing polymer chains around the hydrophobic AgNP surface. The resultant core-doped shell nanohybrids exhibit plasmonic, luminescent and volume thermoresponsive properties, with improved possibilities to be used as successful therapeutic platforms. In fact, the possibility to nanoconfine the synergistic antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial features of silver and curcumin in one bioavailable hybrid paves the way to promising applications in the biomedical field.
Highlights
The exciting electronic, optical, catalytic and antimicrobial properties of metal NPs can be stymied by their tendency to aggregate
AgNPs functionalized with 3.15 wt% curcumin content (Ag@cur)-P(MEO2MA) core-doped shell hybrid NPs were prepared by free radical precipitation polymerization (FRPP) of the stimuli-responsive MEO2MA monomer in the presence of Tetraethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA), using curcumin-decorated Ag@cur NPs as seeds (Fig. 1)
We focused on the knowledge and application of one-pot protocol to obtain core-shell hybrid nanoparticles with the ability to encapsulate hydrophobic, bioactive, antioxidant, and low bioavailability molecules
Summary
The exciting electronic, optical, catalytic and antimicrobial properties of metal NPs can be stymied by their tendency to aggregate To overcome this issue and provide metallic nanoparticles with additional features, the hybridization with polymeric materials is a successful strategy. To achieve polymer coating with tunable thickness, polymerization in heterogeneous media, as free radical precipitation polymerization (FRPP) is the most widely choice[7,8] Since this technique relies on the precipitation of water insoluble growing polymer chain, a previous surface preparation of metal NP is required. We envisioned, in this work, that hydrophobic molecules as curcumin (Fig. 1A), having a two-fold function, as reducing agent in silver NP synthesis as well as diminishing the interfacial energy between the growing polymer chain and the metallic surface, might trigger the core-shell hybrid NP assembly. Encapsulation of curcumin in the hydrophobic polymer shell will increase curcumin bioavailability protecting curcumin from hydrolytic degradation[30], since this is the main limitation for its therapeutic applications
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