Antisolvent precipitation
(AP) is a low-cost and less-invasive
preparation alternative for organic nanoparticles compared to top-down
methods such as high-pressure homogenization or milling. Here we report
on particularly small organic nanoparticles (NPs) prepared by AP.
It has been found for various materials that these NPs in their liquid
state exhibit a significant degree of molecular order at their interface
toward the dispersion medium including ubiquinones (coenzyme Q10),
triglycerides (trimyristin, tripalmitin), and alkanes (tetracosane).
This finding is independent of the use of a stabilizer in the formulation.
While this is obviously a quite general interfacial structuring effect,
the respective structural details of specific NPs systems might differ.
Here, a detailed structural characterization of very small liquid
coenzyme Q10 (Q10) NPs is presented as a particular example for this
phenomenon. The Q10 NPs have been prepared by AP in the presence of
two different stabilizers, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and pentaethylene
glycol monododecyl ether (C12E5), respectively,
and without any stabilizer. The NPs’ size is initially analyzed
by photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS). The SDS-stabilized Q10 NPs
have been studied further by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC),
small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS, SANS), wide-angle
X-ray scattering (WAXS), and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy
(CryoTEM). A simultaneous analysis of SAXS and contrast variation
SANS studies revealed the molecular arrangement within the interface
between the NPs and the dispersion medium. The Q10 NPs stabilized
by SDS and C12E5, respectively, are small (down
to 19.9 nm) and stable (for at least 16 months) even when no stabilizer
is used. The SDS-stabilized Q10 NPs reported here, are therewith,
to the best of our knowledge, the smallest organic NPs which have
been reported to be prepared by AP so far. In particular, these NPs
exhibit a core–shell structure consisting of an amorphous Q10
core and a surrounding shell, which is mainly composed of oriented
Q10 molecules and aligned SDS molecules. This structure suggests a
significant amphiphilic behavior and a rather unexpected stabilizing
role of Q10 molecules.