Thursday, August 16, 2007

Apparently, Size Does Matter

From the Wired Blog this week:
"Smaller Not Always Better: Microcapsules beat Nanoparticles for Making Drugs with Less Waste
... David McQuade knows that nanotechnology is not always the best solution to technological problems. He and his team at Florida State University have developed microspheres that can build a drug by connecting three simple building blocks in a single flask...

Nanoscience may be all the rage, and nanoparticles have very high surface areas which make them fabulous catalysts. But nanoparticles are so small that they can be hard to filter out of a broth once a reaction is over. Using larger spheres is a worthwhile trade off to avoid the hassle of getting rid of particles so tiny that they are hard to filter."

For the rest of the article, click here.

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