Flash NanoPrecipitation (FNP)is a new technology for the preparation of multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs) via rapid solvent displacement using amphiphilic diblock copolymers to direct precipitation
of hydrophobic species.
The process is composed oftwo steps: (1) the hydrophobic actives along with amphiphilic diblock copolymers are dissolved in a water miscible organic solvent such as tetrahydrofuran or acetone; and (2) the organic phase is rapidly mixed with an antisolvent (water) in a multiinlet vortex mixer (MIVM) to create homogeneous mixing on the
order of milliseconds. Details of the design of the MIVM apparatus
have been described elsewhere [13–15].
In the process, high supersaturation is induced by the rapid mixing which drives the hydrophobic actives and the hydrophobic block ofthe copolymer to precipitate simultaneously. All hydrophobic components are kinetically trapped in the core.
The NPs are sterically stabilized by the hydrophilic block of the copolymer as it precipitates onto the surface
of the aggregating core components.
The block copolymer adsorption arrests aggregation, affording nanoparticles with narrow size distributions.
In contrast to slow equilibrium processes, FNP offers high loading capacity, control over size and incorporation
of multiple actives in the same nanoparticle.
A wide range of successful applications of FNP have been demonstrated for encapsulation of various hydrophobic drugs, peptides, imaging agents, or a combination of both therapeutics and inorganic colloids [16–20]