Preparation of Gold Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications Using Chemometric Technique

Purpose: To study the effect of process conditions on the size of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) prepared by chemometric technique. Methods: AuNPs were prepared by adding 5 ml of 5 mM of gold (III) chloride hydrate HAuCl4 (2 mg/mL) to 85 ml of filtered deionized water, then refluxed in a 250 mL flask over a hot plate and heated to boiling point. Five milliliters of sodium citrate solution of varying concentrations were quickly added to the boiling solution and stirred for 30 min until the color turned to wine red. Chemometric approach, based on multivariant analysis, was applied to the optimization of iron oxide nanoparticle size in respect of three parameters, viz, concentration of sodium citrate solution, stirrer speed and ionic strength of the medium. The experiments were performed according to Box-Behnken experimental design. Results: The regression model obtained was characterized by both descriptive and predictive ability. The method was optimized with respect to average diameter as a response. The average diameter of the nanoparticles produced under different conditions were between 17.7 up to 168.8 nm. The criteria for the evaluation of the descriptive capability of a polynomial were R-2 = 0.974, standard error = 13.994 and F-ratio = 18.4. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the Box-Behnken experimental design provides a suitable approach for optimizing and testing the robustness of gold nanoparticle preparation method.