One-pot synthesis of monodisperse iron oxide nanoparticles for potential biomedical applications*
Jin Xie1, Sheng Peng1, Nathan Brower1, Nader Pourmand2, Shan X. Wang3, and Shouheng Sun1
1Department of Chemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA; 2Stanford Genome Technology Center, 855 California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA; 3Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Abstract: One-pot reaction of iron(III) acetylacetonate, Fe(acac)3, [or Fe(acac)3 and M(acac)2 where M = Mn and Co], with 1,2-alkanediol, oleic acid, and oleylamine in high boiling organic solvent leads to monodisperse ferrite MFe2O4 nanoparticles. Depending on the concentration of the metal precursors, surfactant-to-metal precursor ratio and the solvent used in the reaction, the particle size from this one-pot reaction can be tuned from 4 to 15 nm. The as-synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles have an inverse spinel structure, and their magnetic properties are controlled by particle size and M in the MFe2O4 structure. The hydrophobic iron oxide nanoparticles are readily transformed into hydrophilic ones by functional phospholipid addition to the as-synthesized particles and as a result, the monodisperse nanoparticles are readily functionalized with biotin, -COOH, -SH, and -NH2, facilitating their link to biomolecules for biomedical applications.
Keywords: ferrite nanoparticles; chemical synthesis; surface functionalization; phospholipid coating; biomedical applications.
*Paper presented at the 40th IUPAC Congress, Beijing, China, 14-19 August 2005. Other presentations are published in this issue, pp. 889-1090.