Dissolution as a paradigm in regulating nanomaterials

Dissolution is a factor to consider when interpreting human health and ecotoxicological studies. It is a frequent subject for computational modelling and is an active research topic in several scientific disciplines (geochemistry, thermodynamics, drug delivery). Dissolution is also a proposed decision criterion in recent risk assessment paradigms for prioritizing toxicity studies. In this overview, dissolution is examined relative to accepted kinetic mechanisms, suggested threshold values and particle transport, and the argument is made that it would be premature to use this physico-chemical property as a decision criterion. Nanoinformatics then becomes a means for fully communicating nanoEHS requirements and for consolidating the results.