Combined Facile Synthesis, Purification, and Surface Functionalization Approach Yields Monodispersed Gold Nanorods for Drug Delivery Applications

Abstract

Synthesizing gold nanorods (AuNRs) by seed-mediated growth method results in the presence of undesired size and shape particles by-products occupying 10–90% of the population. In this study, AuNRs are synthesized by the seed-mediated growth method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a surfactant. AuNRs with redshifted longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance (LLSPR) peak, localized in the biological “transparency window” (650–1350 nm), are synthesized after optimizing seed solution, silver nitrate solution, and hydrochloric acid solution volumes, based on the published protocols. A two-step purification method, dialysis followed by centrifugation, is applied to remove excess CTAB and collect LLSPR-redshifted AuNRs with high rod purity (>90%). CTAB is subsequently exchanged with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to improve AuNRs biocompatibility. PEGylated AuNRs are confirmed innocuous to both SN4741 cells and B16F10 cells by the modified MTT assay and the modified lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay up to 1 nm and 24 h incubation. In this study, a combined facile synthesis, purification, and surface functionalization approach is proposed to obtain water-dispersible monodispersed AuNRs for drug delivery applications.