Researchers Ditch Toxic Nanoparticle Chemicals for Delicious Cinnamon

Nanoparticles these days are quietly being slipped into products and processes as diverse as electronics, healthcare products (like sunscreen), and pharmaceuticals to fight cancer. http://www.dailytech.com/Arsenic+Nanoparticle+Fights+Breast+Cancer/article19058....

But for all that promise, there's a dark side. In order to make nanoparticles like tiny gold nanoparticles(http://www.dailytech.com/Gold+Nanoparticles+Dont+Just+Look+Pretty+They+Fight+Can...) or titanium dioxide nanoparticles, caustic chemicals frequently are required. Scientists are concerned that minute quantities of those chemicals could harm the human body(http://www.dailytech.com/Nanotech+the+New+Asbestos+Carbon+Nanotube+Toxicity/arti...), causing cancer or other diseases.

But a University of Missouri research team, led by MU Physics and Radiology Professor Kattesh Katti thinks they have a solution -- cinnamon.

The team mixed gold salts in water with cinnamon and discovered that they remarkably formed nanoparticles. Typically such particles form only when exposed to an electric field or when toxic chemicals are added to the mix.

Fellow radiology professor Raghuraman Kannan, who participated in the study, comments, "The procedure we have developed is non-toxic. No chemicals are used in the generation of gold nanoparticles, except gold salts. It is a true 'green' process."

Professor Katti adds, "From our work in green nanotechnology, it is clear that cinnamon — and other species such as herbs, leaves and seeds — will serve as a reservoir of phytochemicals and has the capability to convert metals into nanoparticles. Therefore, our approach to 'green' nanotechnology creates a renaissance symbolizing the indispensable role of Mother Nature in all future nanotechnological developments."

More serendipitous yet, the cinammon nanoparticles were found to release phytochemicals found in cinnamon debris. These phytochemicals have been shown to kill or reduce the growth of certain types of cancer cells. So not only are these particles non-toxic, but they also fight cancer.

Professor Katti elates, "Our gold nanoparticles are not only ecologically and biologically benign, they also are biologically active against cancer cells."

It all sounds too good to be true, but the team insists that the approach is reliable. They hope to ready it for production so that the new cinnamon-gold nanoparticles can replace existing toxic varieties.

The study on the work was published in the journal Pharmaceutical Research.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20872051