Simple Route to Size-Tunable Degradable and Electroactive Nanoparticles from the Self-Assembly of Conducting Coil–Rod–Coil Triblock Copolymers
(4045–4055) Chemistry of  Materials 23 #17 (2011)
Guo, Wistrand, and Albertsson of the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, developed a simple route to size-tunable nanoparticles from the self-assembly of degradable and electrically conductive coil–rod–coil triblock copolymers based on an aliphatic polyester and conducting species .  A series of coil–rod–coil triblock copolymers consisting of a middle aniline pentamer (AP) segment and two polycaprolactone (PCL) segments were easily synthesized by a combination of a ring-opening polymerization of CL initiated by an aniline dimer (AD) giving AD-PCL and an oxidative coupling reaction between the AD-PCL and p-phenylenediamine.  These triblock copolymers and their size-tunable nanoparticles with degradability and electroactivity offer new possibilities in biomedical applications, such as controlled drug delivery, biosensors, and cardiovascular and neural tissue engineering.  (RDC 9/6/2011)

Synthesis and characterization of thermosensitive core–shell polymeric nanoparticles
(985-995) Polymer Bulletin 67 #6 (2011)
Facundo et al , Mexico, synthesized thermosensitive core–shell nanoparticles by semicontinuous heterophase polymerization of styrene, followed by a seeded polymerization for forming a shell of poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM). Nanoparticles characterization by scanning transmission electronic microscopy showed core–shell morphology with average particle diameters around 40 nm. An inverse dependence of the particle size with temperature in the range 20–55 °C was identified by quasielastic light scattering measurements. As was expected for core–shell particles with PNIPAM as the shell, a volume phase transition near 32 °C was detected. In spite of thermosensitive properties of core–shell nanoparticles synthesized here, the volume percentage loss values were not so high, probably due to their relatively low content of PNIPAM.  (RDC 8/24/2011)

A comparative study for nanoparticle production with passive mixers via solvent-displacement: Use of CFD models for optimization and design  
( 356-368) Chemical Engineering and Processing 50, #4 (2011)
Lince, Marchisio and Barresi of Politecnico di Torino, Italy, showed that confined impinging jets reactors are more efficient than Tee-mixers, in converting the pressure drop into turbulent kinetic energy and as a consequence in producing smaller particles.  The very simple modelling approach proposed here (based on the evaluation of the mixing time) seems to be able to correlate well experimental data obtained under different operating conditions, independently on the type of device used.  Moreover, in the case of poly--caprolactone it was also possible to successfully quantify the particle formation time with a simple power law, further exploiting the model.  (RDC 5/6/2011)