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Review
. 2017 Aug 29;7(9):243.
doi: 10.3390/nano7090243.

Magnetic Nanoparticles: From Design and Synthesis to Real World Applications

Jiri Kudr  1   2 , Yazan Haddad  3 , Lukas Richtera  4   5 , Zbynek Heger  6   7 , Mirko Cernak  8 , Vojtech Adam  9   10 , Ondrej Zitka  11   12
Affiliations
Review

Magnetic Nanoparticles: From Design and Synthesis to Real World Applications

Jiri Kudr et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

The increasing number of scientific publications focusing on magnetic materials indicates growing interest in the broader scientific community. Substantial progress was made in the synthesis of magnetic materials of desired size, morphology, chemical composition, and surface chemistry. Physical and chemical stability of magnetic materials is acquired by the coating. Moreover, surface layers of polymers, silica, biomolecules, etc. can be designed to obtain affinity to target molecules. The combination of the ability to respond to the external magnetic field and the rich possibilities of coatings makes magnetic materials universal tool for magnetic separations of small molecules, biomolecules and cells. In the biomedical field, magnetic particles and magnetic composites are utilized as the drug carriers, as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and in magnetic hyperthermia. However, the multifunctional magnetic particles enabling the diagnosis and therapy at the same time are emerging. The presented review article summarizes the findings regarding the design and synthesis of magnetic materials focused on biomedical applications. We highlight the utilization of magnetic materials in separation/preconcentration of various molecules and cells, and their use in diagnosis and therapy.

Keywords: magnetic resonance imaging; nanocarrier; nanoscale; preconcentration; separation; silica; theranostics; therapeutic agents.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The scheme of magnetic particles utilization. MRI: magnetic resonance imaging.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Structures of magnetic particles and their coating schemes. (A) Core-shell magnetic particle; (B) End-grafted polymer coated magnetic nanoparticle; (C) Magnetic particle fully encapsulated in polymer coating; (D) Heterodimer magnetic particle; (E) Hydrophobic magnetic particle encapsulated within lipid monolayer (upper part) and hydrophilic magnetic particle within lipid bilayer (modified from [41] with permission).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The scheme of magnetic particles design workflow (A) and possible modification and functionalization of magnetic particles (B).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The scheme of an magnetic solid phase extraction procedure. Magnetic sorbent is added to the sample solution. Analyte is adsorbed on magnetic sorbent. The sorbent with adsorbed analyte is attracted using anexternal magnetic field. Subsequently, analyte is eluted from the magnetic sorbent and the enriched sample is analyzed.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Different approaches to cells sorting. (A) Scheme of cell separation using magnetic particles. Target cells are bounded to magnetic particles modified with transferrin as a targeting moiety (step 1). Cells are magnetically separated (step 2). Non-targeted cells are removed with supernatant (step 3). Subsequently, target cells are resuspended and removed (step 4). (Reproduced with permission from [202]); (B) Enzymatic transformation of magnetic particles for selective sorting of cancer cells (reproduced with permission from [198]). ALPP: placental alkaline phosphatase.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(A) Working electrode and scheme of target cell amperometric detection using horseradish peroxidase enzymatic activity, H2O2 as a substrate and hydroquionone (HQ) as an electron mediator; (B) The schematic representation of S. enteritidis detection using a magnetic particles-enhanced surface plasmon resonance sandwich assay. (Reproduced with permission from [211,212], respectively).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Comparison of magnetic particles utilization as a diagnostic and theranostic tool.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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