Many products of common use benefit of nanotechnologies. Cosmetic, sunscreen, pharmaceuticals, powdered food are only few examples of end products containing nano-sized particles (NPs), generally added to improve the product quality. To evaluate correctly benefits versus risks of engineered nanomaterials, it would be necessary to well characterize the NPs as manufactured, as delivered for use in products, as present in the product matrix, as used in toxicity testing, and as present in biological fluids and tissues, this because, the physicochemical parameters might change in various environments. On analytical point of view the identification, quantification and characterization of NPs in food matrices and in cosmetic or personal care products pose significant challenges, because NPs are usually present at low concentration levels and the matrices in which they are dispersed, are complexes and often incompatible with analytical instruments that would be required for their detection and characterization. This presentation recalls some analytical techniques suitable for the detection, characterization and quantification of NPs in food and cosmetics products, and reports their recent application in characterizing specific metal and metal-oxide NPs in these two important industrial and market sectors.
AN ORCHESTRA OF ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES TO INVESTIGATE EVERYDAY PRODUCTS
CONTADO, Catia
2015
Abstract
Many products of common use benefit of nanotechnologies. Cosmetic, sunscreen, pharmaceuticals, powdered food are only few examples of end products containing nano-sized particles (NPs), generally added to improve the product quality. To evaluate correctly benefits versus risks of engineered nanomaterials, it would be necessary to well characterize the NPs as manufactured, as delivered for use in products, as present in the product matrix, as used in toxicity testing, and as present in biological fluids and tissues, this because, the physicochemical parameters might change in various environments. On analytical point of view the identification, quantification and characterization of NPs in food matrices and in cosmetic or personal care products pose significant challenges, because NPs are usually present at low concentration levels and the matrices in which they are dispersed, are complexes and often incompatible with analytical instruments that would be required for their detection and characterization. This presentation recalls some analytical techniques suitable for the detection, characterization and quantification of NPs in food and cosmetics products, and reports their recent application in characterizing specific metal and metal-oxide NPs in these two important industrial and market sectors.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
