A new strategy for assembling multifunctional nanocomposites with iron oxide and amino-terminated PAMAM dendrimers

A new strategy for assembling multifunctional nanocomposites with magnetic particles and amino dendrimers was reported. In this strategy, the amino terminated PAMAM G5.0 and Fe3O4 NPs prepared by co-deposition method and further modified by aminosilane by two sol-gel processes were combined with the hydrophilic spacer of PEG dicarboxylate by amidation. The nanocomposites were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atom force microscopy (AFM), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer, and hydrophilicity analysis. The results showed that the multifunctional nanocomposites were spherical with the mean diameter of 180 nm and exhibited good dispersion and hydrophilicity. The new strategy put forward here provides an effective route to functionalizing Fe3O4 NPs with various amino dendrimers for drug and gene delivery as well as biological detection.