To enhance the therapeutic effects of chemotherapy on malignant melanoma, paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(ε-caprolactone) nanoparticles (MPEG-b-PCL NPs) that had their surfaces modified with polydopamine (PTX-loaded MPEG-b-PCL NPs@PDA) were prepared as drug vehicles. The block copolymer MPEG-b-PCL was synthesized by ring-opening polymerization and characterized by p...

In situ cell separation and immobilization of bacterial cells for biodesulfurization were developed by using superparamagnetic Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles (NPs). The Fe(3)O(4) NPs were synthesized by coprecipitation followed by modification with ammonium oleate. The surface-modified NPs were monodispersed and the particle size was about 13 nm with 50.8 emu/g saturation magnetization. After adding t...

PA-IL is a galactophilic lectin that is found on the outer membrane of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pigeon ovalbumin (POA), a phosphoprotein, contains high levels of terminal Gal alpha(1-->4)Gal units. Thus, magnetic nanoparticles with immobilized POA can be used as affinity probes for P. aeruginosa, functioning via the recognition of galactophilic PA-IL. We fabricated POA-bound nanoparticles (NPs) ...

Radioisotopes are useful tracers because their chemical properties are the same as those of stable isotopes and they show higher detection sensitivity than other tracers. Their usefulness has been demonstrated in fluorescence experiments in diverse areas including life science, medicine, and engineering. SiO2-coated radioisotope Au coreshell nanoparticles (Au@SiO2 NPs) were first synthesized by...

Magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) have been assembled in films by using self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of organic molecules. SAMs were prepared by the reaction of organotrialkoxysilanes with surface silanol groups of silicon wafers. SAMs were prepared and their surface was decorated either by amine or thymine groups which have the ability to immobilize iron oxide nanoparticles as monolayers. These...

Magnetic 8 nm Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized and modified with dopamine (DPA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) diacid. The water soluble Fe(3)O(4)-DPA-PEG NPs were then conjugated with the fluorescent Eu(iii) complex of tris(dibenzoylmethane)-5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline (BMAP), giving an Fe(3)O(4)-DPA-PEG-BMAP-Eu NP conjugate. The conjugate was both colloidally and chemically stabl...

The possibility of tuning the magnetic behaviour of nanostructured 3d transition metal oxides has opened up the path for extensive research activity in the nanoscale world. In this work we report on how the antiferromagnetism of a bulk material can be broken when reducing its size under a given threshold. We combined X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, extended ...

Monodisperse Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles (NPs) originally synthesized with a hydrophobic oleylamine capping ligand were made water soluble and conjugated to the anticancer drug Methotrexate (MTX) using a new chemistry based on the readily available linker trichloro-s-triazine (TsT). This new linker is much more versatile than those that currently exist for attaching biomolecules to magnetic NPs. Th...

Multifunctional manganese oxide nanoparticles (NPs) with impressive enhanced T₁ contrast ability show great promise in biomedical diagnosis. Herein, we developed a dual-modality imaging agent system based on polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated manganese oxide NPs conjugated with organic dye (Cy7.5), which functions as a fluorescence imaging (FI) agent as well as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ...