Wet-chemical green synthesis of L-lysine amino acid stabilized biocompatible iron-oxide magnetic nanoparticles.

In this paper, we report a novel method for the synthesis of L-Lysine (lys) amino acid coated maghemite (gamma-Fe2O3) magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). The facile and cost effective method permitted preparation of the high-quality superparamagnetic gamma-Fe2O3 MNPs with hydrophilic and biocompatible nature. For this work, first we synthesized magnetite phase Fe3O4/lys by wet chemical method and oxidized to y-Fe2O3 in controlled oxidizing environment, as evidenced by XRD and VSM magnetometry. The crystallite size and magnetization of gamma-Fe2O3/lys MNPs was found to be 14.5 nm, 40.6 emu/gm respectively. The surface functionalization by L-lysine amino acid and metal-ligand bonding was also confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. The hydrodynamic diameter, colloidal stability and surface charge on MNPs were characterized by DLS and zeta potential analyser.