Preparation of well-dispersed bimetallic nanoparticle-functionalized porous carbon materials have received considerable attention. However, there still remains great challenges, one of which is the disparate chemical and physical properties of different metallic precursors. Their drastic differences will inevitably lead to the competitive interactions, resulting into an inhomogeneous phase during the preparation process. To address this issue, we propose to combine the different metallic precursors into a single molecule to ensure them the same property. As an illustrative example, single molecular Wells−Dawson-like heterometallic cluster [Fe6Gd6(μ3-O)2(CO3)(O3PPh)6(O2CtBu)18] ({Fe6Gd6P6} for short) was synthesized and studied, and then bimetallic γ-Fe2O3 and GdPO4 nanoparticles functionalized 2D hexagonal mesoporous carbon materials were facilely prepared. Our studying results confirmed that the γ-Fe2O3 and GdPO4 nanoparticles are highly dispersed in the carbon matrix with the particles smaller than 5 nm. Significantly, this method is adaptable when the carbon matrix is changed to 3D cubic mesoporous carbon, zero-dimensional carbon materials (mesoporous carbon nanospheres, hollow carbon nanospheres), in which the diameter of γ-Fe2O3 and GdPO4 nanoparticles are smaller than 10 nm. Moreover, all of the prepared composites display a satisfactory T1- and T2-weighted MR imaging effect and a drug carrier ability. So, we have shown that a T1- and T2-weighted dual mode magnetic resonance imaging agent and drug delivery system based on functionalized porous carbon materials can be facilely prepared by using Wells−Dawson-like single molecular clusters ({Fe6Gd6P6}) as precursors.

Single molecular Wells−Dawson-like heterometallic cluster for the preparation of multifunctional carbon materials: A T1- and T2-weighted dual mode magnetic pesonance imaging agent and drug delivery system

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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