Nano Kit: Nanoparticle Experimentation of Drug Products

Please Note: This kit is intended for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. Not to be used for clinical based research or clinical medical applications.

With this kit, students can manufacture nanoparticles to encapsulate different drug products (acetaminophen, aspirin and ibuprofen). The encapsulated drugs can be evaluated under UV light (not included) and emit three separate colors. This kit enables new teaching techniques for industrial application. In addition, two experimental procedures with accompanying questions are included to help guide the student to a practical and conceptual understanding of nanotechnology and potential applications. Students can work in small groups (2-4 students) and use the Nano Kit for a one time use. The kit can be used to teach concepts at a variety of different educational levels using basic or advanced methods of experimentation.

Kit contents:

• PEG Polymer A (50 mg in 1.5 mL of ethanol)
• PEG Polymer B (50 mg in 1.5 mL of ethanol)
• Acetaminophen, powdered, 2 vials (50 mg)
• Aspirin, powdered, 2 vials (50 mg)
• Ibuprofen, powdered, 2 vials (50 mg)

This kit comes with 2 pre-planned activities.

Experiment 1 - PEG Nanoparticle Formation as a Function of Structure

This experiment demonstrates:

• Nanoparticle formation and encapsulation of common materials
• Spectrophotometric techniques to measure the stability of encapsulated compounds
• How structure affects the solution properties of materials

Experiment 2 - PEG Nanoparticle as a Drug Delivery System

This experiment demonstrates:

• The efficacy of nanoparticle encapsulation of each molecule
• The rate of release of 3 common molecules from a PEG polymenr nanoparticle
• Analysis of candidate molecule/nanoparticle combinations for potential drug delivery

All measurements are approximate.