Iranian Nanotechnology Society International Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 1735-7004 5 1 2009 12 01 Folate-Conjugated Gold Nanoparticles (Synthesis, Characterization and Design for Cancer Cells Nanotechnology-based Targeting) 25 34 3988 EN A. R. Hashemian Department of Medical Physics, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, I. R. Iran H. Eshghi Department of Chemistry, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, I. R. Iran G. A. Mansoori Departments of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering & Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA A. Shakeri-Zadeh Department of Medical Physics, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, I. R. Iran Department of Medical Physics, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, I. R. Iran A. R. Mehdizadeh Department of Medical Physics, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, I. R. Iran Department of Medical Physics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, I. R. Iran Journal Article 2009 07 15 A new folate-conjugated gold nanoparticle (AuNP) has been designed to selectively target the folate receptor that is overexpressed on the surface of tumoral cells. For this purpose, we made 4-aminothiophenol, as a bifunctional linker to react with HAuCl4 in the presence of sodium borohydride and it was binded to the AuNP surface through its thiol group. Then, we conjugated amino-terminated nanoparticles to folic acid with an amide-linkage formation. Finally, we evaluated the specific interaction between the folic acid and AuNP by the corresponding observed characteristic bands in the UV-vis and FTIR spectra. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) images reveal the spherical AuNPs formation induced by the bifunctional linker. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the metallic face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice structure with (111), (200), (220), and (311) crystal planes. We estimated the average size of the conjugated nanoparticles to be about 5 nm by TEM and XRD. The Elemental analysis and atomic absorption showed 59 % organic molecules on the surfaceof AuNPs https://www.ijnnonline.net/article_3988_bbbe7ef28a0018c4484eaa8b2d0a0328.pdf