Preparation and drug-loading properties of Fe3O4/Poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid) magnetic polymer nanocomposites

Fe3O4/poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid) magnetic polymer nanocomposites were synthesized by the dispersion polymerization method using styrene as hard monomer, acrylic acid as functional monomer, Fe3O4 nanoparticles modified with oleic acid as core, and poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid) as shell. Drug-loading properties of magnetic polymer nanocomposites with curcumin as a model drug were also studied. The results indicated that magnetic polymer nanocomposites with monodisperse were obtained, the particle size distribution was 50–120 nm, and the average size was about 100 nm. The contents of poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid) and Fe3O4 nanoparticles in magnetic polymer nanocomposites were 74％ and 24.7％, respectively. The drug-loading capacity and entrapment efficiency were 2.5% and 44.4%, respectively. The saturation magnetization of magnetic polymer nanocomposites at 300 K was 20.2 emu/g without coercivity and remanence. The as-prepared magnetic polymer nanocomposites have not only lots of functional carboxyl groups but also stronger magnetic response, which might have potential applications in drug carrier and targeted drug release.