Hot-injection synthesis of iron/iron oxide core/shell nanoparticles for T-2 contrast enhancement in magnetic resonance imaging

Here we report a new, bench-top synthesis for iron/iron oxide core/shell nanoparticles via the thermal decomposition of Fe(eta(5)-C6H3Me4)(2). The iron/iron oxide core/shell nanoparticles are superparamagnetic at room temperature and show improved negative contrast in T-2-weighted MR imaging compared to pure iron oxides nanoparticles, and have a transverse relaxivity (r(2)) of 332 mM(-1) s(-1).