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Analysis of institutional authors

Arnau Del Valle, CarlaAuthor

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August 9, 2025
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Bilayer-Coating Strategy for Hydrophobic Nanoparticles Providing Colloidal Stability, Functionality, and Surface Protection in Biological Media

Publicated to: Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. Print). 62 (36): e202305165- - 2023-06-28 62(36), DOI: 10.1002/anie.202305165

Authors:

Schroter, Alexandra; Arnau del Valle, Carla; Marin, Maria J; Hirsch, Thomas
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Affiliations

Univ East Anglia, Sch Chem, Norwich Res Pk, Norwich NR4 7TJ, England - Author
Univ Regensburg, Inst Analyt Chem Chemo & Biosensors, Univ str 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany - Author

Abstract

The surface chemistry of nanoparticles is a key step on the pathway from particle design towards applications in biologically relevant environments. Here, a bilayer-based strategy for the surface modification of hydrophobic nanoparticles is introduced that leads to excellent colloidal stability in aqueous environments and good protection against disintegration, while permitting surface functionalization via simple carbodiimide chemistry. We have demonstrated the excellent potential of this strategy using upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), initially coated with oleate and therefore dispersible only in organic solvents. The hydrophobic oleate capping is maintained and a bilayer is formed upon addition of excess oleate. The bilayer approach renders protection towards luminescence loss by water quenching, while the incorporation of additional molecules containing amino functions yields colloidal stability and facilitates the introduction of functionality. The biological relevance of the approach was confirmed with the use of two model dyes, a photosensitizer and a nitric oxide (NO) probe that, when attached to the surface of the UCNPs, retained their functionality to produce singlet oxygen and detect intracellular NO, respectively. We present a simple and fast strategy to protect and functionalize inorganic nanoparticles in biological media, which is important for controlled surface engineering of nanosized materials for theranostic applications.
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Keywords

Amphiphilic-polymerDesignEr3+Fluorescent probeFluorideInterfacesLanthanidesLigandsNanocrystalsNanoparticlesNanophosphorsNayf4yb3+Oleic acidShelSinglet oxygenSolventsSurface chemistrSurface chemistryUp-conversion nanoparticlesWater

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. Print) due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2023, it was in position 14/231, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Chemistry, Multidisciplinary. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.03. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-12-29, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 9
  • Europe PMC: 4
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-12-29:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 17.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 16 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 4.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 6 (Altmetric).
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Germany; United Kingdom.

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Awards linked to the item

The authors would like to thank Susanne Maerkl for the guidance in transmission electron microscopy, Sophia Baumann for support with photographic images and Patrick Recum for creating the cover image and his help in creating the graphical abstract (Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Chemo-and Biosensors, University of Regensburg). We also thank S.B. and P.R. for their help in vibrational spectroscopy. Furthermore, the authors thank Dr P. Thomas and Dr P. Wilson (Henry Wellcome Lab for Cell Imaging, Faculty of Science, University of East Anglia) for their guidance on imaging techniques. C.A.V. and M.J.M. would like to thank the Royal Society of Chemistry for financial support (Research Enablement Grant E21-2055114014). Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
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