Polymers in Nano Pharmaceutical Materials

摘要

With the advent of nanotechnology, research on pharmaceuticals has experienced a paradigm shift. As opposed to traditional materials, new nanomaterials and nanoparticles are currently being investigated as drug delivery systems. This chapter provides an overview of contemporary approaches for producing nano-drugs. The discussion is divided into three parts: (1) the motivation for nano materials in pharmaceutical applications, (2) nano pharmaceuticals produced by "top down" processes that involve size reduction, and (3) processes that use "bottom up" assembly of nano materials from smaller sub units. In the "bottom up" assembly the distinction between thermodynamically controlled assembly and kinetically controlled assembly is presented with emphasis on the kinetically controlled assembly of polymer protected nanoparticles produced by Flash NanoPrecipitation. The advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches are discussed. Introduction