I prepared PLGA acid-capped nanoparticles with the size of 120 nm , but when I tried the ester capped PLGA using the same protocol, it gave me a larger size.
The ester terminated plga will be more hydrophobic than the acid terminated, thus you can expect more attraction between plga molecules than with water, this could end up in larger nanoparticles.
Hi,
What is the nature of your polymer end group?
Look at the paper by A Reisch et al.Charge-controlled nanoprecipitation as a modular approach to ultrasmall polymer nanocarriers: making bright and stable nanoparticles. ACS Nano. 2015 May 26;9(5):5104-16.
They have shown the influence of end groups (more than the polymer molecular weight) on particle size and zeta potential of PLGA, PMMA and PCL nanoparticles obtained by nanoprecipitation. Size of NPs decreased in the following order with respect to end groups: PEG>COOH>trimethylammonium>sulfonate.
Introducing one or two charged groups per polymer chain allows a size reduction of polymer NPs, it is the same when using carboxylate groups (acid terminated) compared to ester capped, the more the ionization of COOH the smaller the size of NPs.
Best regards,
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