Hydrolysis and amine-capping in a glycol solvent as a route to soluble maghemite gamma-Fe2O3 nanoparticles

The preparation of capped metal oxide nanoparticles through the hydrolysis of metal salts is made arduous by the difficulty of dissolving long organic chain capping agents in water; by performing the reaction in propylene glycol under reflux, instead of water, we are able to hydrolyse FeCl3 in the presence of n-octylamine to obtain (repeatedly) soluble, monodisperse approximately 5 nm gamma-Fe2O3 particles that display a tendency to aggregate into superlattices.