In order to see the functionality and toxicity of nanoparticles in various food and drug applications, it is important to establish procedures to prepare nanoparticles of a controlled size. Desolvation is a thermodynamically driven self-assembly process for polymeric materials. In this study, we prepared BSA nanoparticles using the desolvation technique using acetone as desolvating agent. Acetone was added intermittently into 1% BSA solution at different pH under stirring at 700 rpm. Amount of acetone added, intermittent timeline of acetone addition, and pH of solution were considered as process parameters to be optimized. The effect of the process parameters on size of the nanoparticles was studied. The results indicated that the size control of BSA nanoparticles was achieved by adding acetone intermittently. The standard deviation of average size of BSA nanoparticles at each preparation condition was minimized by adding acetone intermittently. The intermittent addition in polymeric aqueous solution can be useful for size control for food or drug applications.
Hydration Behavior of Polymeric Materials in Aqueous Solution as Studied by Dielectric Relaxation Techniques