In 2002, U.S. farmers harvested 2.7 billion bushels of
soybeans. Last year in Missouri, farmers harvested 194 million bushels
of soybeans worth about $1.2 billion. Now, a team of researchers at the
University
of Missouri-Columbia is turning those soybeans into gold,
with nothing more than a little water.
MU researchers Kattesh Katti, Raghuraman Kannan, and Kavita
Katti led a team of scientists that have discovered how to make gold
nanoparticles using gold salts, soybeans and water. No other chemicals
are used in the process, which means this new process could have major
environmental implications for the future.
“Typically, a producer must use a variety of
synthetic or man-made chemicals to produce gold
nanoparticles,” said Katti, professor of radiology and
physics in MU’s School of Medicine, senior research scientist
at MURR, and College of Arts and Science, and director of the
University of Missouri Cancer Nanotechnology Platform. “In
addition, to make the chemicals necessary for production, you need to
have other artificial chemicals produced, creating an even larger,
negative environmental impact. Our new process only takes what nature
has made available to us and uses that to produce a technology that has
already proven to have far-reaching impacts in technology and
medicine.”
Gold nanoparticles are tiny pieces of gold, so small that they
cannot be seen by the naked eye. Researchers believe that gold
nanoparticles will be used in cancer detection and treatment and in the
production of “smart” electronic devices in the
computer and telecommunications industry. While the nanotechnology
industry is expected to produce large quantities of nanoparticles in
the near future, researchers have been worried about the environmental
impact of the global nanotechnological revolution.
Since a variety of synthetic chemicals are needed to complete
the formation of the gold nanoparticles, the MU research team turned to
Mother Nature for assistance. They found that by submersing gold salts
in water and then adding soybeans, gold nanoparticles were generated.
The water pulls a phytochemical(s) out of the soybean that is effective
in reducing the gold to nanoparticles. A second phytochemical(s) from
the soybean, also pulled out by the water, then interacts with the
nanoparticles to stabilize them and keep them from fusing with the
particles nearby. This process creates nanoparticles that are uniform
in size in a 100 percent green process.
“This fits with what we need to do for the
future,” said Kannon, assistant professor of radiology.
“We are solving a pollution problem at the very beginning
stages of a developing technology. We don’t anticipate any
waste or byproducts from this new process that would not be
biodegradable. Every one of these compounds involved in the process
already exists in nature.”
The new discovery has created a very large positive response
in the scientific community. Researchers from as far away as Germany
have been commenting on the discovery’s importance and the
impact it will have in the future.
“Soy is grown worldwide and Dr. Katti’s
Nobel Prize winning discovery will ensure that gold nanoparticles-based
Nanomedicine products would be made available even to the less
developed regions of the world,” said B. R. Barwale, 1998
winner of the world food prize and founder of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds
Company in India.
“Dr. Katti’s discovery sets up the
beginning of a new knowledge frontier that interfaces plant science,
chemistry and nanotechnology,” said Herbert W. Roesky, a
professor and world renowned chemist from the University of Goettingen
in Germany.
Katti, Kannan, Henry White, MU professor of physics, and
Kavita Katti, a senior research chemist, have filed a patent for the
new process and developed a new company, Greennano Company, which
focuses on development, commercialization and world wide supply of
green nanoparticles for medical and technological applications.
The research team includes Kattesh and Kavita Katti, Kannan,
post-doctoral scientists Satish Nune and Nripin Chanda, and Mizzou
graduate student Swapna Mekapothula. The research was funded by grants
from the National Cancer Institute. Katti recently presented the work
at the annual National Cancer Institute Alliance for Nanotechnology in
Cancer Investigator’s meeting in October. He also will be
presenting the research at the Fourth International Congress of
Nanotechnology and the Clean Tech World Congress held in San Francisco
in early November.
“Dr. Katti’s novel methodology to develop
gold nanoparticles with soy will have important implications as the
field of nanotechnology blossoms and has greater needs for
‘green’ synthesis of gold based nanoparticles. It
is a very important first step,” said Sam Gambhir, director
of the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Stanford
University.
The discovery also could open doors for additional medical
fields, as some of the chemicals used to make nanoparticles are toxic
to humans. Having a 100 percent natural process could allow medical
researchers to expand the use of the nanoparticles.
“Dr. Katti's discovery of green and non-toxic gold
nanoparticles is a significant step to help alleviate the pain and
suffering of patients with Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE),”
said Frances Bernham, president of the National Association of
Pseudoxanthoma elasticum. PXE causes changes in the retina of the eye
that results in significant loss of central vision.
“The application of soy for the production of gold
nanoparticles is amazing,” said Puspendu Das, physical
chemistry professor at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore.
“It shows for the first time that chemicals within soy are
capable of producing gold nanoparticles. This clearly marks the
beginning of a new field of 'Phytochemical-Nanoscience' and opens up a
new pathway for discoveries in nanotechnology. This invention will have
far-reaching implications in nanoscience and technology research
globally since nanoparticles of gold are used in almost every sensor
design and are implicated in life sciences for diagnostic and
therapeutic applications.”
Posted 1st November 2007
