Fabrication of Size-Tunable Metallic Nanoparticles Using Plasmid DNA as a Biomolecular Reactor

Jacopo Samson; Irene Piscopo; Alex Yampolski; Patrick Nahirney; Andrea Parpas; Amit Aggarwal; Raihan Saleh; Charles Michael Drain

doi:10.3390/nano1010064

Fabrication of Size-Tunable Metallic Nanoparticles Using Plasmid DNA as a Biomolecular Reactor

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2011 Oct 21;1(1):64-78. doi: 10.3390/nano1010064.

Authors

Jacopo Samson¹, Irene Piscopo², Alex Yampolski³, Patrick Nahirney⁴, Andrea Parpas⁵, Amit Aggarwal⁶, Raihan Saleh⁷, Charles Michael Drain^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. jsamson@hunter.cuny.edu.
² EM Consulting, 57 Soundview Drive, Huntington, NY 11743, USA. irene.piscopo@gmail.com.
³ Department of Chemistry, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. yampolsa@gmail.com.
⁴ Division of Medical Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada. nahirney@uvic.ca.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. aparpas@hunter.cuny.edu.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. amitashin@yahoo.co.in.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. raihan.saleh@gmail.com.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. cdrain@hunter.cuny.edu.
⁹ The Rockefeller University, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. cdrain@hunter.cuny.edu.

Abstract

Plasmid DNA can be used as a template to yield gold, palladium, silver, and chromium nanoparticles of different sizes based on variations in incubation time at 70 °C with gold phosphine complexes, with the acetates of silver or palladium, or chromium acetylacetonate. The employment of mild synthetic conditions, minimal procedural steps, and aqueous solvents makes this method environmentally greener and ensures general feasibility. The use of plasmids exploits the capabilities of the biotechnology industry as a source of nanoreactor materials.

Keywords: biomolecular reactor; chromium nanoparticles; gold; green synthesis; palladium; plasmid DNA; silver.

Grants and funding

G12 RR003037/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United States