Gold nanorods: new generation drug delivery platform

Abstract With expeditious bloom in nanotechnology, most advanced nanomaterials carrying distinctive properties such as photonics, electronics, and magnetic have been scrutinized. Gold nanorods have showed propitious applications in the biomedical and drug delivery field. In this article, an overview of the research in the optical properties of gold nanorods, synthesis strategies and its applications in drug delivery is offered. Gold nanorods hold unique optical properties that are easy to tune with shape, directing to wider biomedical, imaging, and sensing applications. We start by general summary of gold nanorods followed by the unique and shape-dependent optical properties. The different synthesis mechanisms of the gold nanorods through wet chemistry are described in detail with successive implementation of material quality improvement. The detailed structural characterization of the gold nanorods produced by seed-mediated and electrochemical methods are highlighted. The surface modification, biocompatibility along with the consequences for changes in the chemical reactivity follows. The current review is focused on summarizing the latest use of gold nanorods as drug/gene delivery vehicles and phototherapeutic agents. Nevertheless, several concerns have been raised regarding toxicity of gold nanorods owing to its quantum size effect. For that reason, issues related to toxicity, biological interactions, and dosage form are also reviewed; concluding with the future perspectives and recommendation in particular field.