Water soluble ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles (IONP) are essential components in many functional hybrid inorganic-organic nanomaterials. Methods of synthesizing monodisperse aqueous stable IONP usually rely on the grafting of bulky ligands to the nanoparticle core or chemical oxidation of existing ligands to render the IONP aqueous soluble. Unfortunately, the resulting large increases in particle hydrodynamic radius or excess oxidation of the nanoparticle core make these methods undesirable. Small catechol derivatives, such as dopamine, have been studied for the electrostatic stabilization of IONP as they are non-bulky, highly charged, and have high affinity for iron oxide. We present the ligand exchange of oleic acid for dopamine and Tiron (4,5-dihydroxy-1,3-benzenedisulfonic acid disodium salt), another catechol derivative. Characterization of the nanoparticles by TEM, zeta potential, SQUID magnetometry, MFM, and EPR reveal they are well dispersed and stabilized in a variety of aqueous media while retaining desired magnetic properties.

Water soluble ultrasmall magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with catechol-based ligands for functional materials

244th National Meeting (2012)

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