High-frequency sonochemical conversion of hydrophobic polyphenols into functional nanoparticles for bioengineering

Polyphenols are natural compounds with diverse biological activities; however, their practical applications are often limited by poor solubility and chemical instability. In this study, a high-frequency ultrasound-assisted approach is developed for the preparation of polyphenol nanoparticles (NPs), producing well-dispersed and uniformly sized particles. The method exhibits excellent versatility and can be applied to a wide range of polyphenol precursors, including 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (1,8-DHN). Additionally, the integration of an ultrasound-assisted Fenton reaction markedly accelerates polyphenol polymerization and NP nucleation. The resulting NPs demonstrate outstanding antioxidant capacity, effectively scavenging intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Notably, DHN-derived NPs show strong antibacterial activity, efficiently eliminating both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria at relatively low concentrations. Overall, this study presents a green, simple, and scalable strategy for fabricating multifunctional polyphenol NPs. The synergistic antioxidant and antibacterial properties of these NPs highlight their broad potential in biomedical engineering, providing a valuable platform for the design of next-generation bioactive nanomaterials.