Key Laboratory of Interfacial Physics and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Soft Matter. 2022 Jan 5;18(2):425-433. doi: 10.1039/d1sm01457a.
Perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanodroplets have rapidly developed into useful ultrasound imaging agents in modern medicine due to their non-toxic and stable chemical properties that facilitate disease diagnosis and targeted therapy. In addition, with the good capacity for carrying breathing gases and the anti-infection ability, they are employed as blood substitutes and are the most ideal liquid respirators. However, it is still a challenge to prepare stable PFC nanodroplets of uniform size and high concentration for their efficient use. Herein, we developed a simple and highly reproducible method, , propanol-water exchange, to prepare highly homogeneous and stable perfluorohexane (PFH) bulk nanodroplets. Interestingly, the size distribution and concentration of formed nanodroplets could be regulated by controlling the volume fraction of PFH and percentage of propanol in the propanol-water mixture. We demonstrated good reproducibility in the formation of bulk nanodroplets with PFH volume fractions of 1/2000-1/200 and propanol percentage of 5-40%, with uniform particle size distribution and high droplet concentration. Also, the prepared nanodroplets were very stable and could survive for several hours. We constructed a ternary phase diagram to describe the relationship between the PFH volume ratio, propanol concentration, and the size distribution and concentration of the formed PFH nanodroplets. This study provides a very useful method to prepare uniform size, high concentration and stable PFC nanodroplets for their medical applications.
全氟碳（PFC）纳米液滴由于其无毒稳定的化学性质，在现代医学中迅速发展成为有用的超声成像剂，有助于疾病诊断和靶向治疗。此外，由于其具有良好的携带呼吸气体的能力和抗感染能力，它们被用作血液替代品，是最理想的液体呼吸机。然而，为了高效利用 PFC 纳米液滴，仍然需要制备具有均匀尺寸和高浓度的稳定 PFC 纳米液滴。在此，我们开发了一种简单且重现性高的方法，即丙醇-水交换法，用于制备高度均匀和稳定的全氟己烷（PFH）体相纳米液滴。有趣的是，通过控制 PFH 的体积分数和丙醇-水混合物中丙醇的百分比，可以调节形成的纳米液滴的尺寸分布和浓度。我们证明了在 PFH 体积分数为 1/2000-1/200 和丙醇百分比为 5-40%的情况下，形成体相纳米液滴具有良好的重现性，具有均匀的粒径分布和高的液滴浓度。此外，所制备的纳米液滴非常稳定，可以存活数小时。我们构建了一个三元相图来描述 PFH 体积比、丙醇浓度与形成的 PFH 纳米液滴的尺寸分布和浓度之间的关系。本研究为制备具有均匀尺寸、高浓度和稳定 PFC 纳米液滴提供了一种非常有用的方法，可用于医学应用。
