Inorganic Dendrimer Core

Magnetic nPs & Bio-Medical Applications

FePt magnetic nanoparticles (nPs) offer great interests for biomedical applications such as magnetic separation, drug delivery, hyperthermia and MRI, because its high magnetic anisotropy is one of the highest of any known material. A natural question arises regarding the potential toxicity and biomedical applications of fcc -FePt.

In this context, we have made promising progresses in the syntheses of low polydispersity FePt nPs and their use as negative MRI contrast agents.

~ 5 nm fcc FePt nPs were synthesized by a modified thermal decomposition method & made to be water soluble by coating with nPs surface with cysteamine.
Cytotoxicity studies of FePt NPs were carried out on cells, while cell uptake of NPs through endocytosis was investigated by TEM study.
Longitudinal and transverse relaxations of cysteamine coated FePts was measured.

FePt nPs synthesized by thermal decomposition

Work carried out by

Shu Chen,^a,b‡ Lijun Wang,^c‡ Suzanne Duce,^d Stuart Brown,^c David Cole-Hamilton,^b Stephen Lee,^a Andreas Melzer,^c Sir Alfred Cuschieri,^c Pascal André ^a,c *

^a School of Physics & Astronomy (SUPA), University of St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS
^b School of Chemistry (EaStChem), University of St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9ST
^c Institute for Medical Science & Technology, University of Dundee
^d College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH