Achievement

Gold nanorods are of considerable interest for biomedical applications due to their small size, tunability of the plasmon to the near infra red, and permeability into cells. The well known nanorod synthesis yields nanorods coated in a surfactant CTAB that stabilizes the nanorods in solution. We have investigated the stability of NRs with CTAB concentration. Next we developed a bifunctional PEG with thiol and carboxyl end groups that yields carboxy-terminal PEGylated nanorods which can be conjugated to antibodies via a carbodiimide linking agent. Fluorimetry and ELISA assays reveal approximately two antibodies/nanorod. The nanorod conjugates demonstrate specific targeting in two different antibody/cell systems. Two photon luminescence and confocal reflectance microscopies successfully imaged the nanorods in cells. C.M. Payne*, L.J. E. Anderson*, K.M. Mayer*, et al., "The stabilization and targeting of surfactant-synthesized gold nanorods" Nanotechnology, 20, 434005, (2009)