Molecular composition of iron oxide nanoparticles, precursors for magnetic drug targeting, as characterized by confocal Raman microspectroscopy

The chemical and structural properties of ferrite-based nanoparticles, precursors for magnetic drug targeting, have been studied by Raman confocal multispectral imaging. The nanoparticles were synthesised as aqueous magnetic fluids by co-precipitation of ferrous and ferric salts. Dehydrated particles corresponding to co-precipitation (CP) and oxidation (OX) steps of the magnetic fluid preparation have been compared in order to establish oxidation-related Raman features. These are discussed in correlation with the spectra of bulk iron oxides (magnetite, maghemite and hematite) recorded under the same experimental conditions. Considering a risk of laser-induced conversion of magnetite into hematite, this reaction was studied as a function of laser power and exposure to oxygen. Under hematite-free conditions, the Raman data indicated that nanoparticles consisted of magnetite and maghemite, and no oxyhydroxide species were detected. The relative maghemite/magnetite spectral contributions were quantified via fitting of their characteristic bands with Lorentzian profiles. Another quality parameter, contamination of the samples with carbon-related species, was assessed via a broad Raman band at 1580 cm−1. The optimised Raman parameters permitted assessment of the homogeneity and stability of the solid phase of prepared magnetic fluids using chemical imaging by Raman multispectral mapping. These data were statistically averaged over each image and over six independently prepared lots of each of the CP and OX nanoparticles. The reproducibility of oxidation rates of the particles was satisfactory: the maghemite spectral fraction varied from 27.8 ± 3.6% for the CP to 43.5 ± 5.6% for the OX samples. These values were used to speculate about the layered structure of isolated particles. Our data were in agreement with a model with maghemite core and magnetite nucleus. The overall oxidation state of the particles remained nearly unchanged for at least one month.