title: Formation of curcumin nanoparticles by flash nanoprecipitation from emulsions.
abstract: Nanometric particles of a model hydrophobic substance curcumin were prepared by a novel method, namely, flash nanoprecipitation from a coarse oil-in-water emulsion. The method employs turbulent co-mixing of water with curcumin-loaded emulsion using manually-operated confined impingement jets mixer. A clear and stable dispersion of nanoparticles was formed in this process, and could be converted to dry, easily water-dispersible powder by spray drying. The mean size of the particles was about 40 nm by DLS, confirmed by Cryo-TEM. The obtained particles contained 20.4 wt% curcumin, X-ray analysis showed it was amorphous. The significant advantages of the studied process are its feasibility, speed and low cost. It does not require any special high-energy input equipment to reduce the droplet size of the initial emulsion as required by the vast majority of other methods, and relies on rapid turbulent mixing and on flow-induced shear stress formed in the simple, manually-operated mixer. Control experiments clearly indicate that employing emulsion, instead of a plain solution and flash nanoprecipitation instead of a simple antisolvent precipitation are advantageous in terms of particle size and stability.
authors.affiliation: Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. Electronic address: katymargulis@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Margulis
authors.affiliation: Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel. Electronic address: magdassi@mail.huji.ac.il.
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Magdassi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Electronic address: leex3870@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Han Seung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Electronic address: macosko@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Christopher W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Macosko
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D011232:Chemical Precipitation; D003474:Curcumin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D003890:Desiccation; D004339:Drug Compounding / Q000295:instrumentation; D004655:Emulsions / Q000737:chemistry*; D004867:Equipment Design; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D011208:Powders; D012995:Solubility; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004655:Emulsions; D011208:Powders; D014867:Water; D003474:Curcumin
keywords: Amorphous; Curcumin; Emulsion; Flash nanoprecipitation; Nanoparticles; Precipitation; Spray drying