Combinatorial discovery of novel amphiphilic polymers for the phase transfer of magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new approach to the combinatorial discovery of amphiphilic maleic anhydride copolymers which can be used as a generic method for the optimization and control of hydrophobic nanoparticle phase transfer into the aqueous phase. This combinatorial multiwell chemical screening process resulted in the discovery of 'hit' polymer ring opened chemistries that allow the spontaneous and highly efficient phase transfer of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles into water under ambient conditions. Effective polymer-SPIO materials were screened for magnetic properties via a high-throughput (HT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique and nanoparticles were success..