Nano-dimensional gold synthesis for biomedical applications: upscaling and challenges

Abstract

Purposely designed nano-scale gold for diverse biomedical applications like therapeutics and diagnostics is gaining scientific impetus. These colloidal particles vary in dimension between 10 and 100 nm. They can be tailored to arrive at unique characteristics related to size, morphology and surface modalities linked to intended application. Additionally, biocompatibility is a major criterion for the clinical use of these nano-range products. Several established laboratory methods exist to synthesize nano-gold in small scale whereas few methods explore their transformation into industrial scale. Large-scale methods are limited and needs significant supply of newer entrants to overcome the problems and to cater the diverse variety of nano-scale gold which are currently under pre-clinical and clinical investigations. Although some gold nanoparticles have entered the market still there are several lacunas in up-scaling of these materials and confirming their safety for biomedical applications. As a result, industries are inclined to analyze the scale up feasibilities and commercialization of all such products. This review for the first time provides an updated analysis of the lab-scale and large-scale synthesis routes to arrive at nano-dimensional gold with a spot-light on the challenges involved in the process.

Keywords:

• Nano-gold
• synthesis
• biocompatible
• scale–up
• challenges

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Biorender.com for designing of figure illustrations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the DST SERB under Asean Grant [File No. CRD/2019/000133] extended to Dr. Partha Roy.