S. Petersen
J. Jakobi
A. Hörtinger
S. Barcikowski

In-Situ Conjugation - Tailored Nanoparticle-Conjugates by Laser Ablation in Liquids

Journal of Laser Micro/Nanoengineering
1
4
71-74
2009
Type: Zeitschriftenaufsatz (reviewed)
Abstract
The generation and characterisation of nanoparticulate carrier systems is important for drug delivery, biosensing and in vivo or in vitro diagnostics. Conventionally, nanoparticle generation is based on chemical synthesis methods requiring time intensive reaction and additive design for each material. Successive purification and surface functionalisation is often required after the nanoparticle generation to achieve pure nanoparticle-conjugates. Ultra short pulsed laser ablation in liquids has evolved as a powerful tool for nanoparticle generation showing advantages in the nearly unlimited material variety and purity. We perform the ablation in solutions containing bioactive reagents, realizing an in-situ conjugation of nanoparticles. This novel method enables the generation of diverse nanoparticle conjugates, demonstrated at the example of dodecanthiol stabilized gold nanoparticles in hexane. A first bioconjugation with oligo-nucleotides was carried out additionally. We studied the influence on productivity of nanoparticle generation and evaluated the integrity of biomolecules after laser ablation. A quenching of nanoparticle growth and narrowing of the surface plasmon resonance, which both increases in media with higher conjugative agent concentrations is observed. Since laser generated gold nanoparticles show electron accepting properties due to a partial oxidation, the presented in-situ conjugations can be exploited to other application, e.g. the coupling to polymeric matrices, as far as the conjunctive molecules bear electron donor moieties.