TY - JOUR

T1 - Fabrication of surface-functionalizable amphiphilic curcumin nanogels for biosensing and biomedical applications

AU - Abdelmonem, Abuelmagd M.

AU - Lavrentieva, Antonina

AU - Bigall, Nadja C.

N1 - Funding Information: This paper is based upon work supported by Science, Technology & Innovation Funding Authority (STDF, Egypt) under the basic and applied science program (Grant no. 37041, STDF, Egypt). The authors would like to acknowledge the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement 714429), the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) under Germany’s excellence strategy within the cluster of excellence PhoenixD (EXC 2122, project ID 390833453 and the grant BI 1708/4-1) and Hannover School for Nanotechnology (hsn).

PY - 2024/1

Y1 - 2024/1

N2 - Nanogels, nanosized water-soluble physically and/or chemically cross-linked polymeric networks, have been widely prepared, characterized and studied in recent years due to their attractive properties, especially in biomedical applications as delivery vehicle for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. Here, we present a facile new synthetic strategy to prepare ultra-small amphiphilic nanogels with tunable properties from a bioactive natural material (curcumin, with its well-known functionalities and health promoting activities) and a biocompatible maleic anhydride-based polymer. Our approach is based on a combination of chemical cross-linking, hydrophobic interaction and self-assembly. The nanogels were investigated for their physicochemical properties and colloidal stability under different pH values and salt concentrations as well as the in vitro cytotoxicity. The results indicated negative surface charge (as indicated by gel electrophoresis and laser Doppler anemometry with a zeta potential of − 60 mV) nanogels of small sizes (dh = 5.6 nm) with high colloidal stability at a wide range of pH values and NaCl concentrations. Additionally, the nanogels were not toxic up to concentration 100 μg/mL for BEAS-2B and A549 cells. The relatively facile preparation, high colloidal stability, ultra-small size and possible surface modification, functionalization and/or bioconjugation makes the obtained nanogels of great importance, especially in sensing and biomedical applications.

AB - Nanogels, nanosized water-soluble physically and/or chemically cross-linked polymeric networks, have been widely prepared, characterized and studied in recent years due to their attractive properties, especially in biomedical applications as delivery vehicle for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. Here, we present a facile new synthetic strategy to prepare ultra-small amphiphilic nanogels with tunable properties from a bioactive natural material (curcumin, with its well-known functionalities and health promoting activities) and a biocompatible maleic anhydride-based polymer. Our approach is based on a combination of chemical cross-linking, hydrophobic interaction and self-assembly. The nanogels were investigated for their physicochemical properties and colloidal stability under different pH values and salt concentrations as well as the in vitro cytotoxicity. The results indicated negative surface charge (as indicated by gel electrophoresis and laser Doppler anemometry with a zeta potential of − 60 mV) nanogels of small sizes (dh = 5.6 nm) with high colloidal stability at a wide range of pH values and NaCl concentrations. Additionally, the nanogels were not toxic up to concentration 100 μg/mL for BEAS-2B and A549 cells. The relatively facile preparation, high colloidal stability, ultra-small size and possible surface modification, functionalization and/or bioconjugation makes the obtained nanogels of great importance, especially in sensing and biomedical applications.

KW - Amphiphilic polymer

KW - Biocompatible

KW - Curcumin

KW - Nanogels

KW - Sensing and biomedical

KW - Surface functionalizable

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173933911&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11696-023-03108-4

DO - 10.1007/s11696-023-03108-4

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85173933911

VL - 78

SP - 533

EP - 546

JO - Chemical papers

JF - Chemical papers

SN - 0366-6352

IS - 1

ER -