PEG conjugated citrate-capped magnetite nanoparticles for biomedical applications

We aim to develop polyethylene glycol decorated, citric acid capped magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) with proper physicochemical characteristics including particle size distribution, morphology, magnetic property and stability in a biologic medium. MNP of about 10 nm were synthesized by a biocompatible chemical co-precipitation of Fe2+ and Fe3+ in an ammonia solution. A synthetic methodology has been developed to get a well dispersed and homogeneous aqueous suspension of MNPs. The naked MNPs are often insufficient for their stability, hydrophilicity and further functionalization. In order to overcome these limitations, citric acid was used to stabilize the magnetite particle suspension, which was anchored on the surface of freshly prepared MNPs by a direct addition method. Polyethylene glycol was covalently attached to the carboxylic moieties of citric acid anchored MNPs by carbodiimide chemistry. The microstructure and morphology of the nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Also, the magnetic properties were investigated by vibrating sample magnetometry. It was found that the nanoparticles demonstrated superparamagnetic behavior.

► PEG was covalently attached to MNPs, by carbodiimide chemistry. ► PEGylated MNPs are invisible to the immune system that could be considered advantageous over Feridex nanoparticles. ► The saturation magnetization of the PEGylated MNPs was 63 emu/g.