Facile one-pot synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles with controllable morphology and size distribution as targeted biocarriers

Magnetic iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles with appropriate surface chemistry and size distribution have been widely used as biocarriers for biomedical and bioengineering applications such as tissue repair, immunoassay, hyperthermia, drug delivery and in cell separation, etc. Fe3O4 nanoparticles with controllable morphology and size distribution were synthesized by one-pot hydrothermal decomposition of FeCl3 center dot 6H(2)O in PEG containing polyethyleneimine (PEI) or Polyacrylic acid (PAA) in the present work. The final particles had a variety of morphologies such as petaloid and spherical, and the size could be tuned by varying the content of PEI or PAA. The prepared nanoparticles which were jointly coated with PEG/PEI or PEG/PAA showed excellent magnetic properties. With size from 50 nm to 170 nm and positive or neutral zeta potentials these Fe3O4 nanoparticles exhibited higher dispersion stability in deionized water and in phosphate buffered saline. Moreover, the WST-1 assays revealed that the PEG/PEI or PEG/PAA coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles were practically non-toxic. This work demonstrates that Fe3O4 nanoparticles with modulated properties can be prepared simply by using the onepot hydrothermal polyol method. The PEG/PEI or PEG/PAA coated Fe3O4 can also be used as promising magnetic targeted biocarriers for biomedical applications.