(529c) A Novel Technique for the Production of Drug Nanoparticles and Their Encapsulation Using Rapid Expansion of Water-in-Supercritical CO2 Microemulsion

A novel technique for the production of drug nanoparticles and their encapsulation was exploited using rapid expansion of water-in-supercritical CO2 microemulsion. The aqueous cores of reverse micellar nanodroplets filled with gadolinium-diethylenetrianminepenaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA), an anticancer drug used in neutron capture therapy, were formed and dispersed in the supercritical CO2. Paraffin, which forms a homogeneous phase with the supercritical CO2, functioned as a coating material of the core drug material Gd-DTPA. Rapid expansion of the supercritical microemulsion into the atmosphere was carried out for the simultaneous processes of the production and the encapsulation of Gd-DTPA with paraffin in nanosized dimension. The morphology of particle samples was examined with SEM and the coating of the particles were investigated with TEM and EDS analysis. The results showed that this technique is very promising for the production and the encapsulation of nanoparticles in nanoscale.