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Updated: Mar 15, 2026

Author Spotlight: Experimental Approaches for the Synthesis of Low-Valent Metal-Organic Frameworks from Multitopic Phosphine Linkers
Published on: May 12, 2023
Surface engineering of SPIONs: role of phosphonate ligand multivalency in tailoring their efficacy
Tina Lam1, Pramod K Avti1,2,3, Philippe Pouliot2
1Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0B8, Canada.
Abstract:
We report the design of scaffolds containing mono-, bis-, and tris-phosphonate coordinating groups, and a polyethylene glycol chain, for stabilizing superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), using simple and versatile chemistry. We demonstrate that the number of anchoring phosphonate sites on the ligand influence the colloidal stability, magnetic and biological properties of SPIONs, and the latter do not solely depend on attaching moieties that can enhance their aqueous dispersion. These parameters can be tailored by the number of conjugation sites on the ligand, as evidenced from dynamic light scattering at various salt concentrations, magnetic relaxivities and cell viability studies.
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