BackgroundNanotechnology offers great promise in many industrial applications. However, little is known about the health effects of manufactured nanoparticles, the building blocks of nanomaterials.ObjectivesTitanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles with a primary size of 2–5 nm have not been studied previously in inhalation exposure models and represent some of the smallest manufactured nanoparticles. The purpose of this study was to assess the toxicity of these nanoparticles using a murine model of lung inflammation and injury.Materials and MethodsThe properties of TiO2 nanoparticles as well as the characteristics of aerosols of these particles were evaluated. Mice were exposed to TiO2 nanoparticles in a whole-body exposure chamber acutely (4 hr) or subacutely (4 hr/day for 10 days). Toxicity in exposed mice was assessed by enumeration of total and differential cells, determination of total protein, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and inflammatory cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. Lungs were also evaluated for histopathologic changesResultsMice exposed acutely to 0.77 or 7.22 mg/m3 nanoparticles demonstrated minimal lung toxicity or inflammation. Mice exposed subacutely (8.88 mg/m3) and necropsied immediately and at week 1 or 2 postexposure had higher counts of total cells and alveolar macrophages in the BAL fluid compared with sentinels. However, mice recovered by week 3 postexposure. Other indicators were negative.ConclusionsMice subacutely exposed to 2–5 nm TiO2 nanoparticles showed a significant but moderate inflammatory response among animals at week 0, 1, or 2 after exposure that resolved by week 3 postexposure.

Copper nanomaterials are being used in a large number of commercial products because these materials exhibit unique optical, magnetic, and electronic properties. Metallic copper nanoparticles, which often have a thin surface oxide layer, can age in the ambient environment and become even more oxidized over time. These aged nanoparticles will then have different properties compared to the original nanoparticles. In this study, we have characterized three different types of copper-based nanoparticle (NP) samples designated as Cu(new) NPs, Cu(aged) NPs, and CuO NPs that differ in the level of oxidation. The solution phase behavior of these three copper-based nanoparticle samples is investigated as a function of pH and in the presence and absence of two common, complexing organic acids, citric and oxalic acid. The behavior of these three copper-based NP types shows interesting differences. In particular, Cu(aged) NPs exhibit unique chemistry including oxide phases that form and surface adsorption properties. Overall, the current study provides some insights into the impacts of nanoparticle aging and how the physicochemical characteristics and reactivity of nanomaterials can change upon aging.

Transmission FTIR spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are used to probe the details of sulfur dioxide adsorption and photooxidation on titanium dioxide nanoparticle surfaces. Adsorption sites, surface speciation and photooxidation chemistry have been determined from analysis of FTIR spectra in conjunction with isotope labeling experiments. These data show that surface hydroxyl groups are involved in the adsorption of sulfur dioxide, and in particularly, sulfur dioxide reacts with either one surface O-H group to yield adsorbed bisulfite or two surface O-H groups to yield adsorbed sulfite and water. Using (16)O-H, (16)O-D and (18)O-H labeled surface O-H groups, additional insights into the adsorption mechanism as well as shifts in the vibrational modes of adsorbed sulfite have been determined. Upon irradiation, adsorbed sulfite/bisulfite converts to adsorbed sulfate. The relative stability of adsorbed sulfite to adsorbed sulfate on TiO2 nanoparticle surfaces was also examined in the presence of increasing relative humidity (RH). It is shown here that adsorbed water can more easily displace sulfite compared to sulfate by forming a stable sulfur dioxide water complex in the presence of adsorbed water. These differences in the RH-dependent stability of adsorbed species that form as a result of surface heterogeneous reactions on oxide particles surfaces has important implications in the heterogeneous chemistry of mineral dust aerosol in the atmosphere.

Triphenylphosphine (PPh(3)) is commonly used during syntheses of stable, closed-shell monolayer protected clusters (MPCs). Models of transition metal (TM) cluster and nanoparticle syntheses commonly assign PPh(3) a passive role as a chemical placeholder, electron balancing species, or surfactant. This study provides the first direct evidence that PPh(3) is a proactive etching agent that promotes the formation of specific closed-shell cluster sizes. To observe this effect, we developed a colorimetric tool that simultaneously monitors size distribution and population of PPh(3)-protected clusters as a function of time. The distribution of the clusters is assigned to different bin sizes by chemical conversion with L(3) (L(3) = 1,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)propane): (i) total conversion of PPh(3)-protected Au(8) and Au(9) clusters into [Au(6)L(3)(4)](2+) and (ii) ligand exchange with [Au(x)(PPh(3))(y)](z+) (10 ≤ x ≤ 13) clusters to form L(3)-protected Au(10) and Au(11) clusters. Evolution of the nascent cluster distribution in ethanol and methanol solvent systems was monitored by the colorimetric assay, which revealed a cyclic process of growth and etching reactions around the most stable cluster species to form nearly monodisperse product distributions. We formally define the population growth of specific clusters through cyclic processing of the Au MPCs as "size selective" processing. The current study highlights the need for incorporating bidirectional processing, including relative rate information, into TM kinetic models for ligands with growth and etching efficacy.

In this study, the adsorption of two organic acids, oxalic acid and adipic acid, on TiO2 nanoparticles was investigated at room temperature, 298 K. Solution-phase measurements were used to quantify the extent and reversibility of oxalic acid and adipic acid adsorption on anatase nanoparticles with primary particle sizes of 5 and 32 nm. At all pH values considered, there were minimal differences in measured Langmuir adsorption constants, K ads, or surface-area-normalized maximum adsorbate-surface coverages, Gamma max, between 5 and 32 nm particles. Although macroscopic differences in the reactivity of these organic acids as a function of nanoparticle size were not observed, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy showed some distinct differences in the absorption bands present for oxalic acid adsorbed on 5 nm particles compared to 32 nm particles, suggesting different adsorption sites or a different distribution of adsorption sites for oxalic acid on the 5 nm particles. These results illustrate that molecular-level differences in nanoparticle reactivity can still exist even when macroscopic differences are not observed from solution phase measurements. Our results also allowed the impact of nanoparticle aggregation on acid uptake to be assessed. It is clear that particle aggregation occurs at all pH values and that organic acids can destabilize nanoparticle suspensions. Furthermore, 5 nm particles can form larger aggregates compared to 32 nm particles under the same conditions of pH and solid concentrations. The relative reactivity of 5 and 32 nm particles as determined from Langmuir adsorption parameters did not appear to vary greatly despite differences that occur in nanoparticle aggregation for these two different size nanoparticles. Although this potentially suggests that aggregation does not impact organic acid uptake on anatase particles, these data clearly show that challenges remain in assessing the available surface area for adsorption in nanoparticle aqueous suspensions because of aggregation.

Although recent evidence suggests that particle size plays an important role in the dissolution of iron from mineral dust aerosol, a fundamental understanding of how particle size influences the rate and extent of iron oxide dissolution processes remains unclear. In this study, surface spectroscopic methods are combined with solution phase measurements to explore ligand-promoted dissolution and photochemical reductive dissolution of goethite (R-FeOOH) of different particle sizes in the presence of oxalate at pH 3 and 298 K. Both X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) revealed differences between R-FeOOH particles in the nanometer-size range as compared to R-FeOOH particles in the micrometer-size range (nanorods and microrods, respectively). ATR-FTIR spectra showed a significant presence of surface hydroxyl groups as well as differences in surface complexes formed on nanorod surfaces. Furthermore, the saturation coverage of oxalate adsorbed on nanorods relative to microrods is ∼30% less as determined from solution phase batch adsorption isotherms. Despite less oxalate uptake per unit surface area, the surface-area-normalized rate of oxalate-promoted dissolution was ∼4 times greater in nanorod suspensions, suggesting this process is particle-size-dependent. Photochemical dissolution experiments revealed only a moderate increase in the rate of oxalate oxidation per gram of R-FeOOH with decreasing particle size. However, concentration profiles of photochemically generated Fe(II) and Fe(III) suggest differences in the dominant mechanisms controlling nanorod and microrod dissolution. Although loss of reactive surface area arising from oxalate-induced particle aggregation can contribute to size-dependent reactivity trends toward oxalate, our data, taken collectively, suggest unique surface chemistry of nanorods as compared to larger microrods. Results from ligand-promoted and photochemical dissolution experiments also highlight the important, and sometimes dominant, role that iron oxides on the nanoscale may play in iron mobilization relative to the larger oxide phases present in mineral dust aerosol. † Part of the special section "Physical Chemistry of Environmental Interfaces".

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