A Simple Confined Impingement Jets Mixer for Flash NanoPrecipitation

摘要

Johnson and Prud’homme introduced the confined impingement jets (CIJ) mixer to prepare nanoparticles loaded with hydrophobic compounds (e.g., drugs, inks, fragrances, or pheromones) via flash nanoprecipitation (FNP). We have modified the original CIJ design to allow hand operation, eliminating the need for a syringe pump, and we added a second antisolvent dilution stage. Impingement mixing requires equal flow momentum from two opposing jets one containing the drug in organic solvent the other an antisolvent, typically water. The subsequent dilution step in the new design allows rapid quenching with high antisolvent concentration that enhances nanoparticle stability. This new CIJ-D mixer (confined impingement jets with dilution) is a simple, cheap and efficient device to produce nanoparticles. We have made 55 nm diameter β-carotene nanoparticles using the CIJ-D mixer. They are stable and reproducible in terms of particle size and distribution. We have also compared the performance of our CIJ-D mixer with the vortex mixer, which can operate at unequal flow rates, to make β-carotene-containing particles over a series of turbulent conditions. Based upon dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements, the new CIJ-D mixer produces stable particles of a size similar to the vortex mixer. Our CIJ-D design requires less volume and provides an easily operated and inexpensive tool to produce nanoparticles via FNP and to evaluate new nanoparticle formulation.