Graphene: Safe or Toxic? The Two Faces of the Medal

Bianco, Alberto

doi:10.1002/anie.201209099

Cited by 525 publications

(375 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Nevertheless, the use of water as a liquid medium in UILPE of graphite opens perspectives to green chemistry and to the development of graphene-based biocompatible materials. [193,194] Remarkably, the low performance of water in UILPE can be overcome by using DSAs molecules to help the exfoliated graphene sheets to remain dispersed and prevent their aggregation. [195][196][197][198][199][200][201][202][203] …”

Section: Aqueous Dispersionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supramolecular Approaches to Graphene: From Self‐Assembly to Molecule‐Assisted Liquid‐Phase Exfoliation

2016

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Graphene, a one-atom thick two-dimensional (2D) material, is at the core of an ever-growing research effort due to its combination of unique mechanical, thermal, optical and electrical properties. Two strategies are being pursued for the graphene production: the bottom-up and the top-down. The former relies on the use of covalent chemistry approaches on properly designed molecular building blocks undergoing chemical reaction to form 2D covalent networks. The latter occurs via exfoliation of bulk graphite into individual graphene sheets. Amongst the various types of exfoliations exploited so far, ultrasound-induced liquid-phase exfoliation (UILPE) is an attractive strategy, being extremely versatile, up-scalable and applicable to a variety of environments. In this review, we highlight the recent developments that have led to successful non-covalent functionalization of graphene and how the latter can be exploited to promote the process of molecule-assisted UILPE of graphite. The functionalization of graphene with non-covalently interacting molecules, both in dispersions as well as in dry films, represents a promising and modular approach to tune various physical and chemical properties of graphene, eventually conferring to such a 2D system a multifunctional nature.

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Section: Aqueous Dispersionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supramolecular Approaches to Graphene: From Self‐Assembly to Molecule‐Assisted Liquid‐Phase Exfoliation

2016

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“…The in vitro toxicity of nGO and DGO at different concentrations (5,10,20,30,40,50, 100 and 200 mg ml…”

Section: In Vitro Cytotoxicity Assaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dendron conjugation to graphene oxide using click chemistry for efficient gene delivery

Madras

Chatterjee

2015

RSC Adv.

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Owing to its large surface area and rapid cellular uptake, graphene oxide (GO) is emerging as an attractive candidate material for delivery of drugs and genes. The inherent sp 2 p-p interaction of GO helps to carry drugs and single stranded RNA (ssRNA) but there is no such interaction with double stranded DNA (dsDNA).In this work, a polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendron was conjugated with nano GO (nGO) through "click" chemistry to improve the DNA complexation capability of GO as well as its transfection efficiency. The DNA complexation capability of GO was significantly enhanced after dendronization of GO yielding spherical nanosized (250-350 nm) particles of the dendronized GO (DGO)/pDNA complex with a positive zeta potential. The transfection efficiency of GO dramatically increased after conjugation of the PAMAM dendron. Transfection efficiency of 51% in HeLa cells with cell viability of 80% was observed. The transfection efficiency was significantly higher than that of polyethyleneimine 25 kDa (27% efficiency) and also surpassed that of lipofectamine 2000 (47% efficiency). The uptake of the DGO/pDNA complex by the caveolae mediated endocytosis pathway may significantly contribute to the high transfection efficiency. Thus, dendronized GO is shown to be an efficient gene carrier with minimal toxicity and is a promising candidate for use as a nonviral carrier for gene therapy.

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“…These abnormalities of the tissue ultra-architecture indicate pathological effects of pG on the structure of lipid membranes, confirming that lipid membranes may be a significant platform for hydrophobic graphene localization. 36 It ought to be emphasized that, in the present study, pG was given at the beginning of embryogenesis, when the brain and blood-brain barrier were not developed. pG was probably circulated within the organism by different routes and was present in the brain before blood-brain barrier development, which begins at about day 10 of embryogenesis.…”

mentioning

confidence: 77%

Toxicity of pristine graphene in experiments in a chicken embryo model

Sawosz¹,

Jaworski²,

Kutwin³

et al. 2014

IJN

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Evaluation of the potential cytotoxicity of graphene is a key factor for medical applications, where flakes or a surface of graphene may be used as bioactive molecules, drug carriers, or biosensors. In the present work, effects of pristine graphene (pG) on the development of a living organism, with an emphasis on morphological and molecular states of the brain, were investigated using a chicken embryo model. Fertilized chicken eggs were divided into the control group and groups administered with pG suspended in milli-Q water at concentrations of 50 μg/L, 100 μg/L, 500 μg/L, 1,000 μg/L, 5,000 μg/L, and 10,000 μg/L (n=30 per group). The experimental solutions were injected in ovo into the albumin and then the eggs were incubated. After 19 days of incubation, the survival, weight of the body and organs, and blood serum biochemical indices were measured. The brain samples were collected for microscopic examination of brain ultrastructure and measurements of gene and protein expression. Survival of embryos was significantly decreased after treatment with pG, but the body and organ weights as well as biochemical indices were not affected. In all treatment groups, some atypical ultrastructures of the brain were observed, but they were not enhanced by the increasing concentrations of pG. Expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen at the messenger ribonucleic acid level was downregulated, and the number of proliferating cell nuclear antigen-positive nuclei was significantly reduced in the 500–10,000 μg/L groups compared with the control group, indicating a decreased rate of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis in the brain. The present results demonstrate some harmful effects of the applied pG flakes on the developing organism, including brain tissue, which ought to be considered prior to any medical applications.

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Graphene: Safe or Toxic? The Two Faces of the Medal

Cited by 525 publications

References 71 publications

Supramolecular Approaches to Graphene: From Self‐Assembly to Molecule‐Assisted Liquid‐Phase Exfoliation

Supramolecular Approaches to Graphene: From Self‐Assembly to Molecule‐Assisted Liquid‐Phase Exfoliation

Dendron conjugation to graphene oxide using click chemistry for efficient gene delivery

Toxicity of pristine graphene in experiments in a chicken embryo model

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