Amino-containing magnetic nanoemulsions: elaboration and nucleic acid extraction

Amino-containing magnetic colloids were prepared from highly magnetic oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. The functionalization was performed by controlling the adsorption of polyethyleneimine onto negatively charged magnetic emulsions. The cationic magnetic nanodroplets were characterized in terms of chemical composition, particle size, size distribution, zeta potential and colloidal stability as a function of storage time. These amino-containing magnetic emulsions were assessed as a new tool for nucleic acid extraction and amplification. The adsorption of nucleic acids was mostly controlled by attractive electrostatic interactions. The adsorption efficiency of a model RNA was found to be encouraging and the captured nucleic acid molecules were directly enzymatically amplified in the presence of the magnetic particles without any elution step.