Polymeric micelle as a nanocarrier for delivery of therapeutic agents: A comprehensive review

For selective and effective drug delivery of therapeutic agent nanocarriers are the most effective agents. Micelles are an aggregate of surfactant molecules that dispersed in a liquid colloid. Micelles have a variety of shapes such as spheres, rods, vesicles, tubules, and lamellae. The shape and size of a micelle are a function of the molecular geometry of its surfactant molecules and solution conditions such as surfactant concentration, temperature, pH, and ionic strength. Poly Ethylene Glycol (PEG) is the most commonly used hydrophilic segment of micelles for drug delivery. Besides PEG, other polymers including poly (N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide) (pNIPAM) have also been used as hydrophilic portion of micelles. In this review we all discus about the polymeric micelles (PMs) as a nanocarriers for delivery of therapeutic agents. Keywords: Polymeric Micelles, Colloids, Nanocarriers, Drug Delivery, Poly Ethylene Glycol(PEG

Oxidizing capacity of periodate activated with iron-based bimetallic nanoparticles

Nanosized zerovalent iron (nFe0) loaded with a secondary metal such as Ni or Cu on its surface was demonstrated to effectively activate periodate (IO4 -) and degrade selected organic compounds at neutral pH. The degradation was accompanied by a stoichiometric conversion of IO4 - to iodate (IO3 -). nFe 0 without bimetallic loading led to similar IO4 - reduction but no organic degradation, suggesting the production of reactive iodine intermediate only when IO4 - is activated by bimetallic nFe0 (e.g., nFe0-Ni and nFe0-Cu). The organic degradation kinetics in the nFe0-Ni(or Cu)/IO 4 - system was substrate dependent: 4-chlorophenol, phenol, and bisphenol A were effectively degraded, whereas little or no degradation was observed with benzoic acid, carbamazepine, and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. The substrate specificity, further confirmed by little kinetic inhibition with background organic matter, implies the selective nature of oxidant in the nFe0-Ni(or Cu)/IO4 - system. The comparison with the photoactivated IO4 - system, in which iodyl radical (IO3 •) is a predominant oxidant in the presence of methanol, suggests IO3 • also as primary oxidant in the nFe0-Ni(or Cu)/IO4 - system.close0