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Bioconjugated Iron Oxide Nanocubes: Synthesis, Functionalization, and Vectorization

Publication at Faculty of Science |
2014

Abstract

A facile bottom-up approach for the synthesis of inorganic/organic bioconjugated nanoprobes based on iron oxide nanocubes as the core with a nanometric silica shell is demonstrated. Surface coating and functionalization protocols developed in this work offered good control over the shell thickness (840 nm) and enabled biovectorization of SiO2@Fe3O4 coreshell structures by covalent attachment of folic acid (FA) as a targeting unit for cellular uptake.

The successful immobilization of folic acid was investigated both quantitatively (TGA, EA, XPS) and qualitatively (AT-IR, UVvis, zeta-potential). Additionally, the magnetic behavior of the nanocomposites was monitored after each functionalization step.

Cell viability studies confirmed low cytotoxicity of FA@SiO2@Fe3O4 conjugates, which makes them promising nanoprobes for targeted internalization by cells and their imaging.