A novel rhodamine-oxaldehyde (RHO) functionalized β-NaYF4:Yb(3+)/Er(3+) upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) for specific detection of cysteine (Cys) in aqueous solution was achieved through a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) process. Based on self-assembling interaction, hydrophobic upconversion nanoparticles could be modified with α-cyclodextrin to make them water dispersible.

The role of nanoparticle surface hydrophobicity on its hemolytic property is established in the absence and the presence of plasma proteins. Significantly, the formation of plasma protein corona on NP surface protects red blood cells from both hydrophilic and hydrophobic NP-mediated hemolysis.

Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, FI-00076 Aalto www.aalto.fi Author Tiina Nypelö Name of the doctoral dissertation Surface-modified nanoparticles for ultrathin coatings Publisher Aalto University School of Chemical Technology Unit Department of Forest Products Technology Series Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 12/2012 Field of research Forest Products Chemistry Manusc...

The diffusion of nanoparticles at a water-alkane interface is studied using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic quantum dots of 5, 8, and 11 nm radius are used. A slow-down of nanoparticle diffusion at the liquid-liquid interface is observed. The effect is most evident when the viscosities of both liquid phases are similar, here, at the water-decane interface. In ...

Amphiphilic bovine serum albumin-poly(methyl methacrylate) conjugate forms nanoparticles with the uniform size of ~100 nm by self-assembling. Loaded with the hydrophobic anti-tumor drug camptothecin, the nanoparticle efficiently delivers drugs into cancer cells, and thus inhibits ~79% of tumor growth in animals compared with free drug.

The ability to control the localization of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoparticle probes in bacterial cells is critical to the development of analytical techniques that can nondestructively determine cell composition and phenotype. Here, selective localization of SERS probes was achieved at the outer bacterial membrane by using silver nanoparticles functionalized with synthetic h...

Hydrophobic guests such as pyrene could be readily trapped inside the micelles of an alkynylated surfactant in the presence of an azide-functionalized cross-linker using the click reaction. The cross-linker was designed to contain cleavable bonds such as geminal diol, disulfide, and acetal. The resulting pyrene-containing water-soluble nanoparticle was under electrostatic stress when diluted be...

We find that citrate-stabilized gold nanoparticles aggregate and precipitate in saline solutions below the NaCl concentration of many bodily fluids and blood plasma. Our experiments indicate that this is due to complexation of the citrate anions with Na+ cations in solution. A dramatically enhanced colloidal stability is achieved when bovine serum albumin is adsorbed to the gold nanoparticle su...

The pathway of interfacial self-assembly of large-scale, highly ordered 2D nanoparticle/polymer monolayer or bilayer arrays from a toluene solution at an air/water interface was investigated using grazing-incidence small-angle scattering at a synchrotron source. Interfacial-assembly of the ordered nanoparticle/polymer array was found to occur through two stages: formation of an incipient random...