International Business Machines Corporation

Qiu Dai

Alshakim Nelson

David Berman

Wayne Isami Imaino

Pierre-Olivier Jubert

William Marvin Dyer

Hareem Tariq Maune

Jitendra Singh Rathore

Krishna M Bajjuri

Krishna S Bajjuri

The present invention relates to a water-soluble polymer complex that includes a water-soluble block copolymer and a magnetic nanoparticle, wherein the water-soluble polymer complex has a nonzero net magnetic moment in the absence of an applied magnetic field at ambient temperatures. The water-soluble block copolymer is preferably a diblock or triblock copolymer and the magnetic nanoparticle is preferably a ferrimagnetic or ferromagnetic nanoparticle. The water-soluble complexes may be derivatized with reactive groups and conjugated to biomolecules. Exemplary water-soluble polymer complexes covered under the scope of the invention include PEG-b-PAAmodified CoFeO; NH-PEG-b-PAAmodified CoFeO; PNIPAM-b-PAAmodified CoFeO; and mPEG-b-PCL-b-PAA modified CoFeO.

Aqueous soluble ferrimagnets stabilized by block copolymers

Magnetic nanoparticles are detected across a thin membrane that separates the nanoparticles from a magnetic sensor. The technique can be used in a medical context, in which an analyte of interest (present in a test fluid, such as blood) is attached to the membrane. Other compounds are in turn bound to the analyte, with one of these compounds including a magnetic nanoparticle that is then detected by the sensor. In this way, the analyte is detected by detecting the magnetic nanoparticle. By counting the number of magnetic nanoparticles, the concentration of the analyte in the test fluid can be determined.

Magnetic nanoparticle detection across a membrane

Provided is a method of inhibiting magnetically induced aggregation of ferrimagnetic and/or ferromagnetic nanoparticles by encapsulating the nanoparticles in a silica shell. The method entails coating magnetic nanoparticle surfaces with a polyacid polymer to form polymer-coated magnetic nanoparticles and treating the polymer-coated magnetic nanoparticles with a silica precursor to form uniform silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles. By controlling the thickness of the silica encapsulating the nanoparticles, the inherent magnetically induced aggregation of the nanoparticles can be completely inhibited.

Method for silica encapsulation of magnetic particles

Provided are inorganic-organic block copolymers that self assemble without the addition of a precursor. The inorganic block of the polymers includes silicon and the organic block may be any organic polymer. The inorganic-organic block copolymers self assemble to form a material in which the inorganic polymer block may be crosslinked to produce an organosilicate and/or silica matrix, and further thermal curing of the matrix results in the formation of a porous nanostructured film.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Qiu Dai