Diamond nanoparticles: from synthesis to bio-applications
C. Arnault
CEA, LIST, Diamond Sensors Laboratory, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France
Among carbon nanostructures, diamond nanoparticles or nanodiamonds behave numerous assets for bio-applications. They are scalable with sizes ranging from 100 nm down to 5 nm. One can expect the elimination by kidney for the smaller nanodiamonds) [1]. Nanodiamonds are available in large quantities at reasonable prices (< 1$/g). Several studies reported their very low toxicity related to the high chemical inertia of diamond [2]. Recent research demonstrates they are even biocompatible with advantages for drug delivery or fluorescence labels [3, 4]. Nanodiamonds enable covalent grafting of various chemical moieties on their surfaces [5] resulting in stable colloidal aqueous solutions. Covalent chemistry works similar way on nanodiamonds as for organics. Moreover, photoluminescent color centers like nitrogen-vacancy (NV) can be generated in the nanodiamond core. For these previous reasons, nanodiamonds (NDs) constitute excellent candidates for nanomedecine applications with a high potential for therapy (delivery via carbon surface chemistry) or diagnosis (stable luminescent NV centers).
The present keynote will describe first how these nanodiamonds can be synthetized. Then, experimental approaches to control their surface properties will be detailed. Indeed, intrinsic surface properties of nanodiamonds can be tuned playing with their surface chemistry. In a third part, a state of art of their use for bio-applications will be provided [6]. Finally, further challenges and developments will be addressed.
References
[1] H.S. Choi et al. , Renal clearance of quantum dots. Nat. Biotechnol. 25(10), 1165–1170 (2007).
[2] V. Paget et al.,Carboxylated nanodiamonds are neither cytotoxic nor genotoxic on kidney, intestine, lung and liver human cell lines. Nanotoxicology. 8(S1), 46–56 (2014).
[3] B. Zhang et al., Receptor mediated cellular uptake of folate-conjugated fluorescent nanodiamonds: a combined ensemble and single-particle study. Small 5(23), 2716–2721 (2009).
[4] J. R. Bertrand et al., Plasma hydrogenated five nanometer cationic nanodiamonds efficiently deliver to human cells in culture functional siRNA targeting the Ewing sarcoma junction oncogene Biomaterials 45 (2015) 93-98
[5] A. Krueger, D. Lang, Functionality is key: recent progress in the surface modification of nanodiamond. Adv. Funct. Mater. 22(5), 890–906 (2012).
[6] J. C. Arnault, Surface modifications of nanodiamonds and current issues for their biomedicine applications in Novel Aspects of Diamond, Topics in Applied Physics, 121, Ed N. Yang, Springer (2015) 85-122
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