ONE-STEP SYNTHESIS OF BIOCOMPATIBLE CHITOSAN/NaGdF4:Eu3+ NANOCOMPOSITE WITH FLUORESCENT AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES FOR BIOIMAGING

Lanthanide-doped luminescent nanoscale materials have great potential applications in biological researches. Herein, we reported a novel and mild method for one-step synthesis of chitosan/ NaGdF 4 : Eu 3+ nanocomposites. The luminescent Eu 3+ ions and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent Gd 3+ ions were incorporated to these biocompatible nanocomposites. The resultant nanocomposites exhibited strong fluorescence and attractive magnetic features. The nanocomposites also have pure hexagonal phase with uniform size of about 65 nm. FT-IR spectra revealed that these nanocomposites were successfully coated by hydrophilic chitosan, whose amine groups conferred the nanocomposites excellent dispensability in aqueous solution. Besides, the MTT assay and laser confocal microscopy images have confirmed the good biocompatibility of the nanocomposites. These results indicated that the as-prepared nanocomposites could be used as an excellent targeted imaging agent in biological fields.