ABSTRACT
The continuous growth of nanotechnology has brought challenging innovations in medicine, revolutionising the šeld of diagnosis and therapy. Indeed, in the šeld of the synthesis and functionalisation of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) for biomedical applications, most researches aim at developing multifunctional theranostic (i.e. including therapeutic and diagnostic functions) NPs, which can both identify disease states and simultaneously deliver therapy. To ensure such multifunctional activity, the key points are the design of the organic coating and its grafting at the surface of NPs while preserving properties of both NPs and molecules. Indeed the coating design is challenging: the molecules anchored at the surface of NPs should bring different functions such as dyes to combine optical imaging, targeting ligands to reach target tissue or cells or therapeutic agents. There must be also functions preventing NPs from agglomeration in a physiological environment and favouring biodistribution (Figure 6.1). Most molecules have to be designed to fulšl all these requirements.
