Aqueous soluble ferrimagnets stabilized by block copolymers

Abstract

The present invention relates to a water-soluble polymer complex that includes a water-soluble block copolymer and a magnetic nanoparticle, wherein the water-soluble polymer complex has a nonzero net magnetic moment in the absence of an applied magnetic field at ambient temperatures. The water-soluble block copolymer is preferably a diblock or triblock copolymer and the magnetic nanoparticle is preferably a ferrimagnetic or ferromagnetic nanoparticle. The water-soluble complexes may be derivatized with reactive groups and conjugated to biomolecules. Exemplary water-soluble polymer complexes covered under the scope of the invention include PEG112-b-PAA40 modified CoFe2O4; NH2-PEG112-b-PAA40 modified CoFe2O4; PNIPAM68-b-PAA28 modified CoFe2O4; and mPEG-b-PCL-b-PAA modified CoFe2O4.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.