Synthetic Phloroglucinol Surface Protected Se Nanoparticles for Potential Biomedical Applications

The specific anticarcinogenic properties of Se and the phloroglucinol ones have coupled in new amorphous Se nanoparticles, surface capped with phloroglucinol synthesized in mild conditions, which may be used in biomedical field. The phloroglucinol surface protected Se nanoparticles have been synthesised according to a new green method without any organic solvent and using phloroglucinol as reducing and capping agent in order to obtain Se nanoparticles suitable for interesting anticancer biomedical applications. Se nanoparticles reveal an homogeneous dimension of about 2–3 nm in diameter and remain stable in dry conditions or if stored in ethanol at room temperature and in darkness. FT-IR investigation reveals that phloroglucinol molecules on the Se nanoparticle surface are linked each other via oxygen atoms bridging adjacent molecules, so forming a surface phloroglucinol coating which prevents Se nanoparticles aggregation. This aggregation in micrometric clusters can be obtained by a heating treatment at 285 C which partially destroy the phloroglucinol surface coating.