Surfactant free emulsions as template for the elaboration of nanocapsules: formulation and applications

Fabienne Gauffre

1Univ Rennes, CNRS, ISCR – UMR 6226, F-35000 Rennes, France

Nanoprecipitation by solvent shifting (i.e. a sudden shift from good to poor solvent conditions) is widely used to prepare drug-loaded polymer nanoparticles in pharmaceutics. However, beyond this empirical knowledge, nanoprecipitation offers a largely unexplored possibility to elaborate organized nanostructures. In this context, we will first start with the “simple case“ of small organic molecules, whose nanoprecipitation yields the so-called “surfactant free” or “Ouzo emulsions” (in reference to the aniseed drink which emulsifies spontaneously1). From the knowledge of the “phase diagram” of such small hydrophobic solutes, we were able to produce nanospheres (~100 nm) made of an organic core coated with inorganic nanoparticles2–6, either by co-nanoprecipitation or by the in situ interfacial reduction of an organometallic core7. More complex topologies such as toroids (nano “cheerios”) are also observed when a self-organizing hydrophobic polypeptide is nanoprecipitated. Finally, we will discuss how some of these experimental results challenges the classical theory of nucleation and growth.

Hybrid nanospheres prepared from co-nanoprecipitation of an organic core with inorganic nanoparticles



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