Magnetic nanocomposites of boron and vitamin C

Abstract

Magnetic nanocomposites comprising elemental boron and vitamin C in the form of mono or bis(ascorbatoborate) complexes have been synthesized for targeted delivery/therapy applications. These nanocomposites were characterized by chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and magnetic measurements. Structural motifs were proposed to justify the arrangement of the complexes around the magnetic core. The nanocomposite particles showed a quasi-spherical morphology with an average size of around 10–15 nm and exhibited a superparamagnetic behavior at 300 K to qualify for potential targeted biomedical applications. The data of chemical analysis suggested that the nanocomposites contain ca. 10¹⁵ boron atoms per microgram of sample.