Small is beautiful: Surprising nanoparticles.

In the preparation of nanoparticles for drug delivery, it is well known that their size as well as their surface decorations can play a major role in interaction with living media. It is less known that their shape and internal structure can interplay with cellular and in vivo fate. The scientific literature is full of a large variety of surprising terms referring to their shape and structure. The aim of this review is to present some examples of the most often encountered surprising nanoparticles prepared and usable in the pharmaceutical technology domain. They are presented in two main groups related to their physical aspects: 1) smooth surface particles, such as Janus particles, "snowmen", "dumbbells", "rattles", and "onions" and 2) branched particles, such as "flowers", "stars" and "urchins". The mode of preparation and potential applications are briefly presented. The topic has a serious, wider importance, namely in opportunity these structures have to allow exploration of the role of shape and structure on the utility (and perhaps toxicity) of these nanostructures.