biostudies-literatureUnknown14(9)Bloemen MSuperparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can provide multiple benefits for biomedical applications in aqueous environments such as magnetic separation or magnetic resonance imaging. To increase the colloidal stability and allow subsequent reactions, the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the particles' surface is essential. During this process, the original coating is exchanged by preferably covalently bonded ligands such as trialkoxysilanes. The duration of the silane exchange reaction, which commonly takes more than 24 h, is an important drawback for this approach. In this paper, we present a novel method, which introduces ultrasonication as an energy source to dramatically accelerate this process, resulting in high-quality water-dispersible nanoparticles around 10 nm iJournal of nanoparticle research : an interdisciplinary forum for nanoscale science and technology1100https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC3460177biostudies-literatureImproved functionalization of oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications.PMC3460177Geukens NBloemen MBrullot WVerbiest TLuong TTGils AfalseImproved functionalization of oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications.Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can provide multiple benefits for biomedical applications in aqueous environments such as magnetic separation or magnetic resonance imaging. To increase the colloidal stability and allow subsequent reactions, the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the particles' surface is essential. During this process, the original coating is exchanged by preferably covalently bonded ligands such as trialkoxysilanes. The duration of the silane exchange reaction, which commonly takes more than 24 h, is an important drawback for this approach. In this paper, we present a novel method, which introduces ultrasonication as an energy source to dramatically accelerate this process, resulting in high-quality water-dispersible nanoparticles around 10 nm i2012-01-01T00:00:00Z2012 Sep2025-04-26T10:33:15.722Z2019-03-27T00:58:30ZS-EPMC34601772302459810.1007/s11051-012-1100-5