Boronic acid functionalized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle as a novel tool for adsorption of sugar

Synthesis of boronic acid functionalized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles has been reported. Magnetite nanoparticles were prepared by simple co-precipitation from Fe2+ and Fe3+ solution. m-Aminophenyl boronic acid was attached to iron oxide particles through 3,4-dihydroxy benzaldehyde through CN bond. X-ray diffraction and selected area electron diffraction have shown the formation of inverse spinel phase magnetite of both as prepared and functionalized magnetite particles. FTIR shows attachment of boronic acid-imine onto iron oxide surface through enediol group. Transmission electron microscopy shows well dispersion of boronic acid functionalized particles of size 8 ± 2 nm. Vibration sample magnetometry shows both the particles are superparamagnetic at room temperature having saturation magnetization (Ms) 52 emu/g. In this work the affinity of these boronic acid functionalized particles towards sugar binding was studied taking dextrose sugar as a model. The influence of pH and sugar concentration has been extensively investigated. The results show that such boronic acid modified superparamagnetic particles are efficient support for sugar separation having maximum sugar loading capacity (60 µg/50 µl) at pH 8.