A simple way to synthesize tartaric acid, ascorbic acid and their mixture coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with high saturation magnetisation and high stability against oxidation: Characterizations and their biocompatibility studies

Abstract

A simple way to synthesise biocompatible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles coated with ascorbic acid, tartaric acid and a mixture of ascorbic acid and tartaric acid is proposed. The iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized and coated with the surfactants in one step by co-precipitation method at room temperature in air atmosphere. The samples have the characteristic (2 2 0), (31 1), (4 0 0), (4 2 2), (5 1 1), (4 4 0) peaks of cubic spinel structure of iron oxide. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis revealed that the nanoparticles were coated with the surfactants. The mean physical sizes of core obtained from the transmission electron microscopy images were 7 +/- 2 nm. Magnetic measurements by vibrating sample magnetometer indicate that all samples are superparamagnetic at room temperature. And, the saturation magnetization, M-s of coated nano particles was around 62 emu/g. The effectiveness of the coating on the surface of nanoparticles against oxidation is also an important parameter. The coating agents successfully protected the core against oxidation since the M-s stayed almost stable (similar to 62) emu/g by 12 weeks and then decreased to similar to 57 emu/g by 48 weeks. It can be concluded that coated superparamagnetic nanoparticles have high saturation magnetization and high stability against oxidation. Furthermore, the MTT assays were also carried out for cytotoxicity of various concentration of coated nanoparticles by using Hep3B, Saos-2 and HUVEC cell lines. From the MTT assay results, it is observed that the coated nanoparticles are non-toxic for all types of cells investigated and therefore can be biocompatible for potential biomedical applications.