Comparison of Different Methods for Purification of Gold Nanoparticles– Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) Generation 4 Dendrimer

Gold nanoparticles (AuNP) are currently being widely
applied in cancer diagnosis as a CT Scan contrast
agent (imaging) as well asin therapy (theragnostic
agents). The polyamidoamine (PAMAM) G4
dendrimer has also been applied as a stabilizer agent
to control the size of gold nanoparticles. In the
production of AuNP-PAMAM G4 dendrimer, a solvent
and reducing agent were used. Therefore, it is
necessary to separate and purify the synthesis result of
AuNP-PAMAM G4 dendrimer from the undesired
compounds.
Separation and purification were carried out by two
different methods, namely, size exclusion column
chromatography Sephadex G25®
(SE), and membrane
ultrafiltration (MU). The percent yield of AuNP that
has been synthesized was calculated by using
Inductively Couple Plasma Atomic Emission
Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and then characterized by
using UV-Vis Spectroscopy and Transmission
Electron Microscope (TEM). The percent yield of
AuNP, which was carried out by MU, was 93.75%.
This result was better compared to using SE (81.18%).
The characteristics results from the UV-Vis spectrum
demonstrated similar spectra between separation and
purification methods using both MU and SE. The
characteristics results from TEM also showed similar
morphological results.
Keywords: Contrast agents, CT-Scan, dendrimer, gold
nanoparticles, purification.