D. K. Kim, M. Mikhaylova, Fu‐Hua Wang
Oct 4, 2003
Citations
2
Influential Citations
255
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Chemistry of Materials
Abstract
Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) with suitable bio-compatible coatings have been used in biomedicine, particularly in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), tissue engineering, and drug delivery applications. In this study, we describe the synthesis of SPION and its use for experimental in-vivo applications in MRI. SPION with a mean size of 6 nm have been prepared under inert atmosphere, in a polymeric starch matrix, by controlled chemical coprecipitation of magnetite phase from aqueous solutions containing suitable salts of Fe2+ and Fe3+. X-ray powder diffraction was used to confirm a pure magnetite phase for the SPION. The influence of oxidizing agents on the cleavage of the starch chains was investigated by changing the concentration of H2O2. An aqueous solution of H2O2/NaOH cleaves the glycosidic bonds and reduces the polymer chains to a critical average molecular weight. From the dynamic light scattering (DLS) size distribution, the bulk agglomeration size was decreased by approximately ...