Sustainable Exscalar Monodispersed Gold Nanoparticles with Enhanced Dispersion Stability and Biocompatibility for Theragnostics

Abstract

The stability and dispersity of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) against various biological, physicochemical, and physiological transformations while retaining biocompatibility are fundamental for their myriad utilization in various theragnostic applications. Besides, it would be highly imperative if the AuNPs could be generated using environmentally sustainable procedures. Remarkably stable, monodispersed AuNPs with robustness against centrifugation, freeze-thawing, lyophilization, acids, bases, electrolytes, and polar solvents are generated by utilizing fish scale wastes. The AuNPs inherited self-integrity and dispersity across various clinically significant biological fluids including phosphate buffer saline, growth mediums, human blood serum, saliva, and urine. Human blood serum interactions revealed negligible protein corona consortium and biocompatibility with no hemolysis or cytotoxicity toward peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Astonishingly, endurance to all these biological, physicochemical, and physiological discrepancies was comparable to that of universal stabilizer thiolated polyethylene glycol (PEG) sorbed AuNPs. Such high stability and wide dispersity are attributed to the firm shielding of AuNPs by the oligopeptide fragments excreted from the scales, which also endowed AuNP functionalization to diverse drugs. Notably, our results develop a biogenic production of monodispersed AuNPs with natural sturdiness against harsh laboratory and clinical environments to substitute the plunged biocompatibility of PEG-Au sulfur chemisorption and PEG-Au physisorption approaches for various imaging and drug delivery applications.

Polyvinylpyrrolidone-mediated synthesis of ultra-stable gold nanoparticles in a nonaqueous choline chloride–urea deep eutectic solvent

“…Thus, a topic of interest to design new AuNPs is the development of nonaqueous gold colloids which present improved colloidal stability and extended operational conditions for processing into functional materials. [17][18][19][20] In this regard, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have emerged as a novel class of designer solvents with properties similar to ionic liquids, whose melting points are significantly lower compared to those of their constituents. 21 DESs, in general, are considered environmentally friendly and inexpensive green solvents of simple preparation in its pure state.…”