New tool maps nanoscale materials in drugs
Nano-FTIR exceeds sensitivity of conventional IR spectroscopy 300-fold
Spanish and German researchers have developed a technology that combines microscopy and spectroscopy to identify materials chemically on a nanometre scale. This has significant potential for pharma, which is increasingly embracing nanotechnology.
Although high-resolution imaging techniques such as electron microscopy are already in use, their sensitivity cannot meet the demands of modern chemical nano-analytics, according to CIC NanoGUNE, the Spanish nanoscience research centre that led the project, which also involves Germany’s University of Munich and German technology company Neaspec.
This deficiency is being righted by Nano-FTIR microscopy, an optical technique combining scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Commercially available from Martinsried-based Neaspec, the nano-FTIR/NeaSNOM microscope is the only one on the market capable of imaging and spectroscopy in the visible, infrared and terahertz spectral region at only 10nm spatial resolution.
‘The high sensitivity to chemical composition combined with ultra-high resolution makes nano-FTIR a unique tool for research, development and quality control in…biomedicine and the pharmaceutical industry,’ said Professor Rainer Hillenbrand, leader of the nano-optics group at CIC NanoGUNE, based in San Sebastian. The technology can be applied to the chemical identification of nanoscale sample contamination, for example.
Speaking to Manufacturing Chemist, Hillenbrand said that there was currently very big demand for chemical identification in nanoparticles, as today’s pharmaceutical development includes many different nanocomposites and compounds.
‘With so many different [nano] materials being mixed together, a lot of things can happen – so the ability to develop quality controls, and to identify all of the materials [in a product] is very important,’ he said.
With materials getting smaller, the spatial resolution of the nano-FTIR is increased by a factor of more than 300 compared with conventional infrared spectroscopy. ‘Functional materials face separation, and many techniques don’t have the high chemical sensitivity that infrared spectroscopy does. Now, with this tool, we can get down to specifics,’ said Hillenbrand.
