Issue 4, 2015

Palladium: a future key player in the nanomedical field?

Abstract

Metal nanostructures offer invaluable possibilities for targeted drug delivery, detection/diagnosis and imaging. Whereas iron, gold, silver and platinum nanoarchitectures have largely dominated this field to date, several hurdles impede the widespread application of those nanopharmaceuticals in a clinical context. Therefore, technologies based on alternative metals are now being evaluated for their potential in medical applications. Palladium nanostructures are characterized by remarkable catalytic and optical properties. However, until recently, very few studies have taken advantage of these unique characteristics for applications in the biomedical field. Very recently, palladium nanostructures have been reported as prodrug activator, as photothermal agents and for anti-cancer/anti-microbial therapy. With only a handful of reports available, the pharmaceutical applications of palladium nanostructures reviewed here are in their infancy. Yet their interesting performance and toxicity profiles may qualify them as future key players in the nanomedical field.

Graphical abstract: Palladium: a future key player in the nanomedical field?

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
08 Jan 2015
Accepted
19 Jan 2015
First published
19 Jan 2015
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 2153-2157

Palladium: a future key player in the nanomedical field?

A. Dumas and P. Couvreur, Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 2153 DOI: 10.1039/C5SC00070J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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