Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2012, 51, 6389-6393

Degree of chemical functionalization of carbon nanotubes determines tissue distribution and excretion profile

Khuloud T. Al-Jamal, Antonio Nunes, Laura Methven, Hanene Ali-Boucetta, Shouping Li, Francesca M. Toma, M. Antonia Herrero, Wafa T. Al-Jamal, Huub M. M. ten Eikelder, Julie Foster, Stephen Mather, Maurizio Prato, Alberto Bianco and Kostas Kostarelos

Several factors are expected to play a role in the in vivo fate of CNTs including the type of surface modification (physical coating versus chemical functionalization) and the degree of chemical functionalization. Since pharmacokinetic profiling of carbon-based nanomaterials is essential, both pharmacologically and toxicologically, this study attempts to determine the effect of the degree of MWNT chemical functionalization on their ensuing pharmacokinetic profile.