title: Anchoring group effects of surface ligands on magnetic properties of Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles: towards high performance MRI contrast agents.
abstract: The effect of the anchoring group of surface ligands on the magnetic properties, especially relaxometric properties, of PEGylated Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles is investigated. Systematic experimental results together with in-depth theoretical analysis reveal that the ligand binding affinity can largely vary the saturation magnetization, whereas conjugated anchoring groups can remarkably enhance the transverse relaxivity, which highlights a novel approach for achieving high-performance MRI contrast agents.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei Yi Jie 2, Zhong Guan Cun, Beijing, 100190, China.
authors.forename: Jianfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Lihong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Mingxia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.forename: Ruirui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Qiaojuan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Mingyuan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gao
keywords: Fe3O4 nanoparticle; MRI; PEG ligand; anchoring group; contrast enhancement effect