Covalent Immobilization of Biotin on Magnetic Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization, and Cytotoxicity Studies

A simple protocol for covalent immobilization of biotin onto the surface of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) for improving the biocompatibility of original MNPs has been realized. MNPs were first prepared by co-precipitation method which was subsequently anchored with functionalized biotin. The as-synthesized MNPs were observed to be monocrystalline as evidenced from XRD and TEM images. The covalent grafting of biotin to MNPs was confirmed by FT-IR. The XPS analysis suggested the successful preparation of Biotin-f-MNPs. The as-synthesized Biotin-f-MNPs were found to be superparamagnetic character as recorded by SQUID. Cell viability studies revealed that the biocompatibility of MNPs was improved upon Biotin immobilization.