Preamble:
Nano particles are compounds that are of very small size. They are employed widely in the fields of optics, health, electronics, physics and medicine. Nano particles are classified into fine particles, coarse particles and ultrafine particles. There have been numerous research studies undertaken as nanotechnology serves as a potential area for discovery. Consequently, US National Nanotechnology Initiative furnishes various funding offers for efficiently carrying out research processes.
Gold nano particles and their unusual properties:
Optical properties of nano particles are unpredictable as they are inordinately petite to confine the electrons and consequently produce quantum effects. This is applicable to gold nano particles as well. Gold nano particles possess different color appearances in different platforms. For instance, they appear red in normal state but they appear deep red to black color in solution form. Gold nano particles have much lower melting temperatures in comparison with golden slabs essentially due to their smaller size. Their melting temperature is approximately around 300⁰ Celsius for the gold nano particle of size 2.5 nm. This makes them the nano particles with unusual physical and optical properties crucially due to their size and their plasmonic behavior wherein the oscillation of free electrons due to shape and size is taken into account.
Medicinal applications:
Medicinal applications for gold and silver nano particles are vast. The wide range of biomedical applications for these compounds are implicated in targeted drug delivery, immunoassay, genomics, bio-imaging, laser phototherapy of cancer cells, DNA and antigens, biosensorics and monitoring of cells and tissues. The delivery of nano particles to the damaged tissues become harder and even impossible when they start to aggregate under the influential presence of highly concentrated sodium chloride. Hence, this defect is a huge challenge to overcome. Gold nano particles have gained significant importance over the years due to their usage in photo thermal cancer therapy, angiogenesis therapy, anti-bacterial therapy, radio frequency therapy and drug vectorization.
Contemporary developments:
Recently, scientists have managed to manufacture stable gold nano particles that could be used against cancer. These nano particles were stabilized in the shape of a star. This is because the synthesized nano particles would become more effective if they are in the shape of a star during photo thermal therapy. It should also be noticed that the synthesized gold nano particles were cost efficient and non-toxic. This will efficiently aid in early diagnosis of cancer in its early stages and will patronize the vehement disintegration of compromised cells. The non toxicity and cost efficiency are due to the fact that these particles are synthesized using vitamin C in aqueous solution.