TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Development of multimodal methods to quantify the total and accessible number of functional groups and ligands on nanomaterials N2 - Engineered and tailored nanomaterials (NM) are of great interest in the life and material sciences, as they can be used, e.g., as drug carriers, barcodes, fluorescent sensors, and multimodal labels in bioanalytical assays and imaging applications. Their performance and safety depend not only on their particle size, size distribution, and morphology, but also on their surface chemistry, i.e., the total number of surface functional groups (FG) and the number of FG accessible for subsequent functionalization with ligands or biomolecules, which in turn determines surface charge, colloidal stability, biocompatibility, and toxicity. It also underlines the importance of validated analytical methods that provide accurate information on these application-relevant physicochemical properties with a known uncertainty. In the case of FG quantification, this calls for robust, fast, inexpensive, and reliable methods which allow for the characterization of a broad variety of NM differing in size, chemical composition, and optical properties. Methods Aiming at the development of simple, versatile, and multimodal tools for the quantification of bioanalytically relevant FG such as amine, carboxy, thiol, and aldehyde functionalities, we investigated and compared various analytical methods commonly used for FG quantification. This includes electrochemical titration methods, dye-based optical assays, and other instrumental analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mass spectrometry (MS), and thermal analysis methods. Results Here, we will present examples for different types of NMs and FGs including results from a currently running interlaboratory comparison (ILC) with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to pave the road for method standardization. Innovative aspects • Surface analysis • Performance and safety of nanomaterials • Standardization T2 - ANAKON 2023 CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 11.04.2023 KW - Engineered Nanomaterials KW - Surface group analysis KW - Optical spectroscopy KW - Quantitative NMR KW - Ligands KW - Dye KW - Particle synthesis KW - Optical Assays KW - Titration KW - Safe-by-Design KW - Nano KW - Nanosafety KW - Silica- and Polystyrene Particles PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59127 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - pH- and O2-Responsive Nanoparticles – The MiGraGen Project N2 - In recent years, the demand for reliable, versatile, fluorescent pH and oxygen sensors has increased rapidly in many biomedical applications since these analytes are important indicators of cell function or certain diseases. Therefore, sensor particles are needed that are small enough to penetrate cells, non-toxic, and allow for close-up optical monitoring. When developing such sensor systems, one must consider the pH and oxygen range detectable by the sensor dye and the matrix material of the used carrier particles. Here, we present the development of pH- and oxygen-responsive polymeric beads functionalized with fluorescent dyad molecules that consist of an analyte-responsive fluorophore and an analyte-inert dye. T2 - MiGraGen Project Meeting 09.08.2023 CY - Online Meeting DA - 09.08.2023 KW - Nano- and microsensors KW - Functionalized silica and polymeric particles KW - pH sensing KW - Oxygen sensing KW - Fluorescence PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58071 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Simon, Fabian A1 - Gehrenkemper, Lennart A1 - Tobias, Charlie A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Meermann, Björn T1 - Quantification of the amount of surface groups of aminated silica nano- and microparticles utilizing a fluorine tag and HR-CS-GFMAS N2 - The performance, bioavailability, and safe use of engineered nanomaterials (NMs) depends not only on properties such as size, shape, and surface area, but largely on surface chemistry. While many sizing methods have been established, there is still a lack of validated screening methods for determining NM surface functional groups (FGs). In this context, we present a fast and simple method for FG quantification using high resolution-continuum source-graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS-GFMAS) and assess its applicability for the surface analysis of representatively chosen aminated silica nanoparticles (NPs) and microparticles (MPs) in conjunction with amino FG labeling with a fluorine tag. For this proof-of-concept study, first surface amino FG screening of the silica NPs and MPs was done with a potentiometric back titration method, providing the total amount of protonatable surface FGs, and two optical assays relying on reporter dyes with sizes and spatial requirements, i.e., surface binding areas smaller or larger than that of the fluorine tag to estimate the maximum and reporter-accessible number of amino FGs. Subsequently, the surface amino FGs were labeled with the fluorine tag 4-(trifluoromethyl)benzoic acid (TFMB) and the amount of fluorine originating from the bound TFMB molecules was quantified by HR-CS-GFMAS in two common organic solvents, i.e., dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or ethanol (EtOH) to assess possible interferences from organic matrices. Our study revealed limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) for fluorine of 1.0 µg/L and 3.5 µg/L in EtOH and 1.5 µg/L and 5.0 µg/L in DMSO, respectively. Overall, a quick and simple method for analyzing surface FGs on NPs and MPs was presented utilizing broadly available fluorine tags and HR-CS-GFMAS for fluorine quantification, which can be applied, e.g., for homogeneity, stability, and aging studies of surface-modified particles. This could contribute to ease the understanding of property-safety relationships for surface-functionalized NMs. KW - Fluorine Analysis KW - Nano- and microparticles KW - Surface group quantification PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641965 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-025-06107-4 SN - 1618-2642 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC CY - Berlin ; Heidelberg AN - OPUS4-64196 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Srivastava, Priyanka A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Genger, C. A1 - Welker, P. A1 - Huebner, Oskar A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Multicolor Polystyrene Nanosensors for the Monitoring of Acidic, Neutral, and Basic pH Values and Cellular Uptake Studies N2 - A first tricolor fluorescent pH nanosensor is presented, which was rationally designed from biocompatible carboxylated polystyrene nanoparticles and two analyte-responsive molecular fluorophores. Its fabrication involved particle staining with a blue-red-emissive dyad, consisting of a rhodamine moiety responsive to acidic pH values and a pH-inert quinoline fluorophore, followed by the covalent attachment of a fluorescein dye to the particle surface that signals neutral and basic pH values with a green fluorescence. These sensor particles change their fluorescence from blue to red and green, depending on the pH and excitation wavelength, and enable ratiometric pH measurements in the pH range of 3.0−9.0. The localization of the different sensor dyes in the particle core and at the particle surface was confirmed with fluorescence microscopy utilizing analogously prepared polystyrene microparticles. To show the application potential of these polystyrene-based multicolor sensor particles, fluorescence microscopy studies with a human A549 cell line were performed, which revealed the cellular uptake of the pH nanosensor and the differently colored emissions in different cell organelles, that is, compartments of the endosomal-lysosomal pathway. Our results demonstrate the underexplored potential of biocompatible polystyrene particles for multicolor and multianalyte sensing and bioimaging utilizing hydrophobic and/or hydrophilic stimuli-responsive luminophores. KW - Microparticle KW - Fluorescence KW - Sensor KW - pH KW - Quantum yield KW - Multiplexing KW - Imaging KW - Cell KW - Quality assurance KW - Nano KW - Polymer KW - Bioimaging KW - Particle KW - Application PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c00944 VL - 94 IS - 27 SP - 9656 EP - 9664 PB - ACS AN - OPUS4-55365 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Design of Fluorescent, Amorphous Silica-NPs and their Versatile Use in Sensing Applications N2 - Surface functionalized silica nanoparticles (SiO2-NP) gained great interest in the life and material sciences, as they can be used e.g. as drug carriers, fluorescent sensors, and multimodal labels in bioanalytical assays and imaging applications. They are highly stable, are easily produced and modified on a large scale at low cost and can be labeled or stained with a multitude of sensor dyes. These dye modified particle conjugates have several advantages as compared to conventional molecular probes like enhanced brightness, ease of designing ratiometric systems by combining analyte-sensitive and inert reference dyes, and increased photostability. Moreover, stained nanoparticles can enable the use of hydrophobic dyes in aqueous environments. Here we present our work on multicolored sensors for the measurement of pH, oxygen and saccharides utilizing amorphous SiO2 NPs. T2 - Focus Area Day Analytical Sciences 2023 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 20.04.2023 KW - Amorphous silica particles KW - Particle Synthesis KW - Nano KW - Ratiometric Sensors KW - Fluorescence KW - pH probe KW - Dye PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59151 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - How to Quantify the Total and Accessible Number of Functional Groups and Ligands on Nanomaterials Using a Multimodal Approach – A Bilateral Comparison N2 - Surface-functionalized organic and inorganic engineered nanomaterials (NM) have gained increasing interest in various fields of application such as nanomedicine, bioimaging and sensing, or as additives in food and consumer products. The performance and safe use of these NM in such applications depend not only on their composition, primary particle size, and morphology, but also on surface chemistry, which controls surface charge, colloidal stability, biocompatibility, and toxicity.[1] NM surface chemistry is mainly determined by the total number of surface functional groups (FG) and the number of FG accessible for subsequent functionalization with ligands or biomolecules. Thus, methods for FG quantification are not only important tools for the control of NM production processes, but can also foster the sustainable development of functional and safe(r) NM. In addition, this need underlines the importance of validated and standardized analytical methods that provide accurate information on application-relevant physicochemical properties with known uncertainties, flanked by suitable quality control samples and reference materials. Aiming at the development of simple, versatile, and multimodal tools for the quantification of common bioanalytically relevant FG, we investigated and compared various analytical methods commonly used for FG quantification.[2,3] The potential of multimodal approaches for FG quantification was recently demonstrated in a bilateral comparison of the surface analysis of commercially available aminated silica nanoparticles (SiO2-NP).[3] These results demonstrate not only an influence of the size and synthesis methods on the number of FG but also on NM performance. This concept is currently explored in a second bilateral comparison of quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) measurements and optical assays for differently sized commercial and in-house synthesized SiO2-NP with varying amounts of amine functionalities, utilizing further optimized protocols for sample preparation, qNMR measurements, and data evaluation. This strategy can contribute to establishing multi-method characterization strategies for NMs and can provide a more detailed picture of structure-properties relationships for different types of functional NM. T2 - E-MRS Spring Meeting 2024 & ALTECH 2024 CY - Strasbourg, France DA - 27.05.2024 KW - Quantification KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Quality assurance KW - Interlaboratory comparison KW - Method KW - Uncertainty KW - Reference material KW - Sensors KW - Synthesis KW - Silica KW - Surface analysis PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62161 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - A Multimodal Approach to Quantify Surface Functional Groups on Nanomaterials for Safe and Sustainable by Design N2 - Engineered nanomaterials (NM) with their large surface-to-volume ratios and their for some materials observed size-dependent functional properties are of increasing relevance for current and future developments in various fields such as medical and pharmaceutical industry, computing and electronics or food and consumer products. The performance and safety of NM are determined by the sum of their intrinsic physicochemical properties. Especially, the particle surface chemistry, which is largely controlled by the chemical nature and density of functional groups (FG) and ligands, is an important key driver for NM performance, stability, and processibility as well as the interaction of NM with the environment. Thus, methods for FG quantification can foster the sustainable development of functional and safe(r) NM. Aiming at the development of simple, versatile, and multimodal tools for the quantification of many bioanalytically relevant FG and ligands, we investigated and compared various analytical methods commonly used for FG quantification. This includes electrochemical titration methods, dye-based optical assays, and other instrumental analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and thermal analysis methods. The potential of our multimodal approach for FG quantification was demonstrated for commercial and custom-made polymeric and silica particles of varying FG, used as optical pH sensors. In the future, our strategy can contribute to establish multi-method characterization strategies to provide a more detailed picture of the structure-properties relationship. T2 - NanoSAFE & NanoSafety Cluster 2023 CY - Grenoble, France DA - 05.06.2023 KW - Engineered Nanomaterials KW - Safe-by-Design KW - Sustainable-by-Design KW - Surface Group Analysis KW - Silica and Polystyrene Particles KW - Surface Modification KW - Dye KW - Optical Spectroscopy KW - Quantitative NMR KW - Electrochemical Titration KW - Functionalized Nanomaterials KW - Nanosafety PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59126 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nirmalananthan-Budau, Nithiya A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Synthesis and Optical Quantification of Surface Groups on Organic and Inorganic Particle-Carriers N2 - Differently sized organic and inorganic particles are of great interest in the life and material sciences, as they can be used e.g. as drug carriers, fluorescent sensors, and multimodal labels in bioanalytical assays and imaging applications.1 Particle performance in such applications depends mainly on the sum of their intrinsic physicochemical properties. Here, the surface chemistry, i.e., the total number of surface functional groups (FG) and the number of FG accessible for subsequent modification with ligands and/or biomolecules, is one of the key parameters. Moreover, the surface chemistry of these materials controls the behavior and fate of the particles when released to the environment or taken up by cells. Nevertheless, it is still relatively rare that FG are quantified in particle safety studies. Methods for FG quantification should be simple, robust, reliable, fast, and inexpensive, and allow for the characterization of a broad variety of materials differing in size, chemical composition, and optical properties. Aiming at the development of simple, versatile, and multimodal tools for the quantification of bioanalytically relevant FG such as amine2,3, carboxy2,3, thiol, and aldehyde4 functionalities, we designed a catch-and-release assay utilizing cleavable probes that enable the quantification of the cleaved-off reporters in the supernatant after particle separation, and thus, circumvent interferences resulting from particle light scattering and sample-inherent absorption or emission.2 The potential of our cleavable probes for the quantification of carboxy and amino groups was demonstrated for commercial and custom-made polymer and silica particles of varying FG densities, underlining the benefit of the catch-and-release assays as a versatile method for the FG quantification on all types of transparent, scattering, absorbing and/or fluorescent particles.2,3 In the future, our cleavable probe strategy can be easily adapted to other analytical techniques requiring different reporters, or to different types of linkers that can be cleaved thermally, photochemically, or by pH, utilizing well-established chemistry, e.g. from drug delivery systems. It can contribute to establish multi-method characterization strategies for particles to provide a more detailed picture of the structure-properties relationship and thus can support the design of sustainable and safe(r) materials. T2 - Nanosafety 2020 CY - Online meeting DA - 05.10.2020 KW - Optical quantification KW - Surface functional groups KW - Polymer particles KW - Silica particles KW - Cleavable probe PY - 2020 AN - OPUS4-51418 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - pH-Responsive Dyad Molecules: MiGraGen Project N2 - Optical pH sensors utilizing colorimetric or fluorescent indicator dyes are highly promising in many biomedical and life science applications where electrochemical sensors fail. For instance, optical sensors are not prone to electrical interferences, they are noninvasive and enable remote measurements. Moreover, fluorescence detection is very fast, highly sensitive, and provides several readout parameters ideal for multiplexing with nanometer resolution using simple, inexpensive, and miniaturizable instrumentation. Here, we present the design of a dyad sensor molecule, consisting of an analyte-responsive and an analyte inert reference fluorophore. T2 - MiGraGen Project Meeting 16.06.2023 CY - Online Meeting DA - 16.06.2023 KW - Dyad molecules KW - pH sensing KW - Fluorescent indicator KW - Ratiometric sensors PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58070 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Matiushkina, Anna A1 - Abram, Sarah-Luise A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Richstein, R. A1 - Reithofer, M. R. A1 - Andresen, Elina A1 - Michaelis, Matthias A1 - Koch, Matthias A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Quantifying Citrate Surface Ligands on Iron Oxide Nanoparticles with TGA, CHN Analysis, NMR, and RP-HPLC with UV Detection N2 - Although citrate is frequently used as a surface ligand for nanomaterials (NMs) such as metal, metal oxide, and lanthanide-based NMs in hydrophilic environments due to its biocompatibility and simple replacement by other more strongly binding ligands in postsynthetic surface modification reactions, its quantification on NM surfaces has rarely been addressed. Here, we present a multimethod approach for citrate quantification on iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) broadly applied in the life and material sciences. Methods explored include thermogravimetric (TGA) and elemental (CHN) analysis, providing citrate-nonspecific information on the IONP coating, simple photometry, and citrate-selective reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with absorption (UV) detection and quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (qNMR). Challenges originating from the strongly absorbing magnetic NM and paramagnetic iron species interfering with optical and NMR Methods were overcome by suitable sample preparation workflows. Our multimethod approach to citrate quantification highlights the advantages of combining specific and unspecific methods for characterizing NM Surface chemistry and method cross-validation. It also demonstrates that chemically nonselective measurements can favor an overestimation of the amount of a specific surface ligand by signal contributions from molecules remaining on the NM surface, e.g., from particle synthesis, such as initially employed ligands and/or surfactants. Our results emphasize the potential of underexplored selective RPHPLC for quantifying ligands on NMs, which does not require a multistep sample preparation workflow such as qNMR for many NMs and provides a higher sensitivity. These findings can pave the road to future applications of versatile HPLC methods in NM characterization. KW - Advanced material KW - Functional group KW - Iron oxide KW - Ligand KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Quantification KW - Surface analysis PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-648632 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5c03024 SN - 0003-2700 VL - 97 IS - 36 SP - 19627 EP - 19634 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-64863 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Development of amorphous silica particle based reference materials for surface functional group quantification N2 - Functionalized nanomaterials (NM) with their unique size-dependent properties are of increasing relevance for current and future developments in various fields such as medical and pharmaceutical industry, computing, electronics or food and consumer products. The performance and safety of NM are determined by the sum of their intrinsic physicochemical properties.1 Besides other key parameters, the particle surface chemistry, which is largely controlled by the chemical nature and density of functional groups and ligands, must be considered for a better performance, stability, and processibility of NM, as well as their interaction with the environment. Thus, particle standards with well-designed surfaces and methods for functional group quantification can foster the sustainable development of functional and safe(r) NM.2 Here we provide a brief overview of the ongoing research in division Biophotonics to design tailored amorphous silica reference particles with bioanalytically relevant functional groups and ligands, for the development of standardized and validated surface functional group quantification methods. T2 - Workshop NanoRiskSD project CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 09.06.2022 KW - Nanoparticle KW - Surface analysis KW - Silica KW - Fluorescence KW - Assay PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55004 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Rational Design of Analyte-responsive Fluorescent Particle Sensors for Life Sciences Applications N2 - Engineered and tailor-made nanomaterials (NM) are of increasing relevance for current and future developments in the life and material sciences for applications, e.g., as drug carriers, fluorescent sensors, and multimodal labels in bioanalytical assays, and reporters for imaging applications. For instance, NM-based reporters and sensors, that are labelled or stained with a multitude of conventional or sensor dyes, have several advantages as compared to molecular probes like enhanced brightness, i.e., amplified signals, ease of designing ratiometric systems by combining analyte-sensitive and inert reference dyes, and increased photostability. Moreover, this can enable the use of hydrophobic dyes in aqueous environments. For rational NM design, choosing and tailoring the intrinsic physicochemical properties, such as particle size, size distribution, morphology, and surface chemistry of the NM application-specific considerations like biocompatibility, ease and low cost of preparation, and colloidal stability and performance in the targeted environment must be considered. In this lecture, different design concepts of inorganic, organic, and hybrid NM and microparticles with hydrophilic surface chemistries and different functionalities are presented that can be used for the targeting of lysosomes; and to monitor functional parameters of endo-lysosomal compartments, like pH or enable oxygen sensing. T2 - Chemical Probes for Lysosomal Biology CY - York, United Kingdom DA - 09.09.2024 KW - Luminescence KW - Quantification KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Quality assurance KW - Fluorescence KW - Method KW - Uncertainty KW - Reference material KW - Sensor KW - Synthesis KW - Dye KW - pH KW - Silica KW - Polystyrene KW - Surface analysis PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62173 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Multicolored sensors based on silica and polymeric particles for ratiometric monitoring of pH, oxygen and saccharides N2 - In recent years, the use of functionalized micro- and nanomaterials has increased rapidly for a wide range of applications in the life and material sciences, due to their unique properties in combination with their high surface-to-volume ratio and stability. For instance, functionalized micro- and nanomaterials, that are labeled or stained with a multitude of sensor dyes can be used for monitoring, and quantification of neutral and ionic analytes. These materials have several advantages as compared to conventional molecular probes like enhanced brightness, ease of designing ratiometric systems by combining analyte-sensitive and inert reference dyes, and increased photostability. Moreover, stained nanoparticles can enable the use of hydrophobic dyes in aqueous environments. Versatile templates and carriers for the fabrication of nanosensors by staining and/or labeling with different fluorophores and sensor molecules are biocompatible silica and polymeric particles, because they can be synthesized in large scales at low costs with different surface chemistries. Here we present our work on multicolored sensors for the measurement of pH, oxygen and saccharides utilizing commercially available or in-house synthesized silica and polymeric particles. T2 - 4th European Biosensor Symposium 2023 CY - Aachen, Deutschland DA - 27.08.2023 KW - Nano- and microsensors KW - Silica and polystyrene nanoparticles KW - PH probe KW - Ratiometric sensors KW - Optical spectroscopy KW - Dye KW - Saccharide sensing KW - Multicolored PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59125 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - A Multimodal Approach to Quantify Surface Functional Groups and Ligands on Amorphous Silica Nanoparticles N2 - Nowadays amorphous silica nanoparticles (SiO2-NP) are one of the most abundant engineered nanomaterials, that are highly stable and can be easily produced on a large scale at low cost. Surface functionalized SiO2-NP are of great interest in the life and material sciences, as they can be used e.g. as drug carriers, fluorescent sensors, and multimodal labels in bioanalytical assays and imaging applications. Their performance in such applications depends not only on particle size, size distribution, and morphology, but also on surface chemistry, i.e. the total number of surface functional groups (FG) and the number of FG accessible for subsequent functionalization with ligands or biomolecules, which in turn determines surface charge, colloidal stability, biocompatibility, and toxicity. Aiming at the development of simple, versatile, and multimodal tools for the quantification of many bioanalytically relevant FG and ligands, we investigated and compared various analytical methods commonly used for FG quantification. This includes electrochemical titration methods, dye-based optical assays, and other instrumental analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and thermal analysis methods. The potential of our multimodal approach for FG quantification was demonstrated for commercial and custom-made silica particles of varying FG, showing not only an influence of the synthesis methods on the number of FG but also on the performance. In the future, our strategy can contribute to establish multi-method characterization strategies to provide a more detailed picture of the structure-properties relationship. T2 - Advanced Materials Safety 2023 CY - Saarbrücken, Germany DA - 08.11.2023 KW - Amorphous silica particles KW - Surface group analysis KW - Ligands KW - Reference material KW - Optical spectroscopy KW - Quantitative NMR KW - Optical assays KW - Titration KW - Engineered nanomaterials KW - Advanced Materials PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59124 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Quantification of the Total and Accessible Number of Functional Groups and Ligands on Nanomaterials N2 - Surface-functionalized organic and inorganic nanoparticles (NP) are of great interest in the life and material sciences, as they can be used e.g. as drug carriers, fluorescent sensors, and multimodal labels in bioanalytical assays and imaging applications. NP performance in such applications depends not only on particle size, size distribution, and morphology, but also on surface chemistry, i.e. the total number of surface functional groups (FG) and the number of FG accessible for subsequent functionalization with ligands or biomolecules, which in turn determines surface charge, colloidal stability, biocompatibility, and toxicity. Methods for FG quantification should be simple, robust, reliable, fast, and inexpensive, and allow for the characteriza-tion of a broad variety of nanomaterials differing in size, chemical composition, and optical properties. Aiming at the development of simple, versatile, and multimodal tools for the quantification of many bioanalytically relevant FG such as amine, carboxy, thiol and aldehyde functionalities, we investigated and compared various analytical methods commonly used for functional group quantification. This includes electrochemical titration methods, dye-based optical assays, and other instrumental analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, and thermal analysis methods. T2 - Nanotech France CY - Paris, France DA - 15.06.2022 KW - Optical assays KW - Functionalized nano- and microparticles KW - Particle surface analysis KW - Surface group quantification KW - Terminal functional groups PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55208 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Multivalent presentation of phenylpropenic acid amide inspired ligands by various nanoparticles and their potential use in anti-inflammatory therapy N2 - Over the years, inflammation has become one of the most rapidly developing areas in medical research, due to new studies indicating its important role in chronical diseases, thrombosis and cancer. A promising target for anti-inflammatory therapy are the multistep adhesion process of leukocytes from the blood vessels into the inflamed tissue. and the numerous involved receptors and ligands. In particular, selectins and their respective carbohydrate ligands can inhibit this key step of the inflammation cascade. In previous work, it was shown that the multivalent presentation of highly negatively charged sulfated and carboxylated ligands on the particle surface can mimic natural selectin binders and increase the inhibition significantly. Recent studies of the antioxidant and health promoting properties of cocoa, dark chocolate and red clover indicating potential anti-inflammatory properties of their clovamide-type phenylpropenoic acid amides, which are able to inhibit p-selectin expression and platelet-leukocyte interactions. Following the idea of small-molecule targeting drugs, we selected different epitopes and immobilized their sulfated derivatives onto different types nanoparticles, followed by a screening of their performance. T2 - SALSA Make and Measure 2024: Interfaces CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 11.09.2024 KW - Gold colloids KW - Surface group analysis KW - Method KW - Quantification KW - Screening KW - Nano KW - Particle KW - Synthesis KW - Quality assurance KW - Surface ligands PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62159 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Quantification of surface functional groups on inorganic and organic nanomaterials using cleavable reporters N2 - Engineered nanomaterials (NM) with their unique size-dependent properties are of increasing relevance for current and future developments in various fields such as medical and pharmaceutical industry, computing and electronics or food and consumer products. The performance and safety of NM are determined by the sum of their intrinsic physicochemical properties. Especially, the particle surface chemistry, which is largely controlled by the chemical nature and density of functional groups and ligands, is an important key driver for the performance, stability, and processibility of NM, as well as their interaction with the environment. Thus, methods for functional group quantification can foster the sustainable development of functional and safe(r) NM. Aiming at the development of simple, versatile and multimodal tools for the quantification of common bioanalytically relevant functional groups, we designed a catch-and-release assay based on cleavable probes that enable the quantification of the cleaved-off reporters in the supernatant after particle separation. Thus, the approach circumvents interferences resulting from particle light scattering and sample-inherent absorption or emission. To study the potential of the assay, commercially available and in-house synthesized aminated and carboxylated polymer and silica nanoparticles of different functional group densities were tested. Our cleavable probe strategy can be easily adapted to other analytical techniques requiring different reporters, or to different types of linkers that can be cleaved thermally, photochemically, or by variation of pH, utilizing well-established chemistry. In addition, it can contribute to the development of multi-method characterization strategies to provide a more detailed picture of the intrinsic physicochemical property - performance/safety relationships and thus can support the design of tailored nanomaterials with better controlled properties. T2 - E-MRS Spring Meeting 2021 / ALTECH 2021 - Analytical techniques for precise characterization of nanomaterials CY - Online meeting DA - 31.05.2021 KW - Surface modified nano- and microparticles KW - Optical assays KW - Particle surface analysis KW - Surface functional group quantification PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-55596 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Srivastava, Priyanka A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Scholtz, Lena A1 - Genger, C. A1 - Welker, P. A1 - Schreiber, Frank A1 - Meyer, Klas A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Dual color pH probes made from silica and polystyrene nanoparticles and their performance in cell studies N2 - Ratiometric green–red fluorescent nanosensors for fluorometrically monitoring pH in the acidic range were designed from 80 nm-sized polystyrene (PS) and silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs), red emissive reference dyes, and a green emissive naphthalimide pH probe, analytically and spectroscopically characterized, and compared regarding their sensing performance in aqueous dispersion and in cellular uptake studies. Preparation of these optical probes, which are excitable by 405 nm laser or LED light sources, involved the encapsulation of the pH-inert red-fuorescent dye Nile Red (NR) in the core of self-made carboxylated PSNPs by a simple swelling procedure and the fabrication of rhodamine B (RhB)-stained SiO2-NPs from a silane derivative of pH-insensitive RhB. Subsequently, the custom-made naphthalimide pH probe, that utilizes a protonation-controlled photoinduced electron transfer process, was covalently attached to the carboxylic acid groups at the surface of both types of NPs. Fluorescence microscopy studies with the molecular and nanoscale optical probes and A549 lung cancer cells confirmed the cellular uptake of all probes and their penetration into acidic cell compartments, i.e., the lysosomes, indicated by the switching ON of the green naphthalimide fluorescence. This underlines their suitability for intracellular pH sensing, with the SiO2-based nanosensor revealing the best performance regarding uptake speed and stability. KW - Sensors KW - Silica and polystyrene nanoparticles KW - pH probe KW - Fluorescence spectroscopy KW - Cell studies KW - Dye KW - Particle synthesis PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-569198 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28203-0 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 IS - 1 SP - 1321 EP - 1336 PB - Nature CY - London AN - OPUS4-56919 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Rajotte, Isabelle A1 - Thibeault, Marie-Pier A1 - Sander, Philipp C. A1 - Kodra, Oltion A1 - Lopinski, Gregory A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Johnston, Linda J. A1 - Brinkmann, Andreas A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Quantifying surface groups on aminated silica nanoparticles of different size, surface chemistry, and porosity with solution NMR, XPS, optical assays, and potentiometric titration N2 - We assessed the quantification of surface amino functional groups (FGs) for a large set of commercial and custom-made aminated silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) with sizes of 20–100 nm, prepared with different sol–gel routes, different amounts of surface amino FGs, and different porosity with four methods providing different, yet connected measurands in a bilateral study of two laboratories, BAM and NRC, with the overall aim to develop standardizable measurements for surface FG quantification. Special emphasis was dedicated to traceable quantitative magnetic resonance spectroscopy (qNMR) performed with dissolved SiO2 NPs. For the cost efficient and automatable screening of the amount of surface amino FGs done in a first step of this study, the optical fluorescamine assay and a potentiometric titration method were utilized by one partner, i.e., BAM, yielding the amount of primary amino FGs accessible for the reaction with a dye precursor and the total amount of (de)protonatable FGs. These measurements, which give estimates of the minimum and maximum number of surface amino FGs, laid the basis for quantifying the amount of amino silane molecules with chemo-selective qNMR with stepwise fine-tuned workflows, involving centrifugation, drying, weighting, dissolution, measurement, and data evaluation steps jointly performed by BAM and NRC. Data comparability and relative standard deviations (RSDs) obtained by both labs were used as quality measures for method optimization and as prerequisites to identify method-inherent limitations to be later considered for standardized measurement protocols. Additionally, the nitrogen (N) to silicon (Si) ratio in the near-surface region of the SiO2 NPs was determined by both labs using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), a well established surface sensitive analytical method increasingly utilized for microparticles and nano-objects which is currently also in the focus of international standardization activities. Overall, our results underline the importance of multi-method characterization studies for quantifying FGs on NMs involving at least two expert laboratories for effectively identifying sources of uncertainty, validating analytical methods, and deriving NM structure–property relationships. KW - Advanced Materials KW - Amino Groups KW - Calibration KW - Characterization KW - Functional groups KW - Method Comparison KW - Nano Particle KW - Validation KW - XPS KW - Optical Assay KW - Quantification KW - Surface Analysis KW - Reference Materials KW - Synthesis KW - Fluorescence PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-649992 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5na00794a VL - 7 IS - 21 SP - 6888 EP - 6900 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-64999 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Where Do We Stand – Quantifying Amino Groups on Silica (Nano)Particles N2 - Industry and regulators are increasingly requesting validated and standardized measurement protocols to support the manufacturing, quality control, and safe use of engineered nanomaterials. Addressing a remaining gap in method development and standardization for nanomaterial characterization, we investigated in a bilateral comparison various methods commonly used for surface functional group quantification, like quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and optical assays. These results demonstrate not only an influence of the size and synthesis methods on the number of surface functional groups for differently sized commercial and in-house synthesized silica nanoparticles but also on their functionality. T2 - Kickoff-Meeting SMURFnano CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 09.07.2024 KW - Nano KW - Particles KW - Silica KW - Synthesis KW - Quantification KW - Functional groups KW - Quality assurance KW - Reference material KW - Interlaboratory comparison KW - Method KW - Uncertainty KW - Sensor KW - Surface analysis PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62164 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella T1 - Quantifying the Total and Accessible Number of Surface Functional Groups and Ligands on Engineered Nanomaterials Using a Multimodal Approach N2 - Functionalized nanomaterials (NM) with their unique size-dependent properties are of increasing relevance for current and future developments in various fields such as medical and pharmaceutical industry, computing, electronics or food and consumer products. For instance, NMs are used as drug carriers, fluorescent sensors, and multimodal labels in bio-analytical assays and imaging applications. The performance and safety of NMs are influenced by their intrinsic physicochemical properties. Among these, the surface chemistry of the particles, which is largely determined by the chemical nature and density of functional groups and ligands, plays a crucial role in enhancing the stability, and processability of NMs, as well as their interactions with the environment. Thus, particle standards with well-designed surfaces and methods for functional group quantification can foster the sustainable development of functional and safe(r) NM.[1] To develop simple, versatile, and multimodal tools for quantifying various bioanalytically relevant functional groups (FG) such as amine,[2,3] carboxy,[2] thiol, and aldehyde[4] functionalities, we explored and compared several analytical methods. These methods included electrochemical titration, dye-based optical assays, and other instrumental techniques like nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry, and thermal analysis. Our multimodal approach’s potential for FG quantification was demonstrated using both commercial and custom-made polymeric and silica particles with different densities of functional groups. T2 - ANAKON 2025 CY - Leipzig, Germany DA - 10.03.2025 KW - Quality Assurance KW - Nano Particle KW - qNMR KW - Potentiometry KW - Reference Material KW - Surface Analysis KW - Advance Materials KW - Functional Group KW - Silica KW - Synthesis KW - Optical Assays KW - Reference Data PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-65000 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -