A Biomimetic Process for the Synthesis of Aqueous Ferrofluids for Biomedical Applications

Synthesis of  aq. ferrofluid from Ferrous/ferric salts, biocompatible polymers, liquor and ammonia

The aqueous ferrofluid has application in pharmaceutical industry as a biocompatible contrast agent in magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), heating agents in Magentic Fluid Hyperthermia (MFH) and drug carriers in targeted drug delivery.

• This invention provides a process that operates within the temperature range 20 to 60 °C for the in situ synthesis of a nano sized functionalised ferrofluid.
• The iron oxide fluids exhibit optimum stability and magnetic properties with negligible residual magnetism as required for biomedical applications.
• This invention leads to agglomeration free particles of iron oxide phase and the magnetic content can be easily varied.
• The iron oxide particles exhibit uniform morphology with a narrow size distribution.