Iron oleate

Magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by the semi-batch thermal decomposition of iron oleate in the presence of molecular oxygen. The precursor iron oleate was synthesized by reacting iron acetylacetonate (>98% pure, Tokyo Chemical Industry ,TCI America) and oleic acid (90% technical grade, Sigma-Aldrich) at 320°C under Argon atmosphere.³² Particle synthesis was as detailed in Unni et.al.^{33 (link)} A mixture of iron oleate and octadecene (90% technical grade, Sigma-Aldrich) was added in a controlled manner into docosane (90% pure, Sigma-Aldrich) at 350°C for eight hours at 9 mL/h. The synthesis was performed with oxygen feed of 20% oxygen and 80% Ar (Airgas) at a rate of 9.47 sccm, controlled using a mass flow controller (Bronkhorst USA). Additional Argon gas was introduced into the reactor head space to maintain the overall oxygen concentration below 5% and avoid flashing of the organic vapor.

oleic acid coated iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized via semi-batch thermal decomposition in the presence of molecular oxygen [31 (link)]. First, an iron oleate precursor was synthesized by reacting iron acetylacetonate (>98% pure, TCI America, Portland, OR, USA) and oleic acid (90% technical grade, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) at 320°C under argon (Ar) atmosphere (Airgas, Gainesville, FL, USA). A mixture of iron oleate and octadecene (90% technical grade, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) was added at 9 mL/h into docosane (90% pure, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) at 350 °C for eight hours. The synthesis was performed with oxygen feed of 20% oxygen and 80% Ar (Airgas, Gainesville, FL, USA) at a rate of 9.47 sccm and controlled using a mass flow controller (Bronkhorst USA, Bethlehem, PA, USA). Additional Ar gas was introduced into the reactor head space to maintain the overall oxygen concentration below 5% and avoid flashing of the organic vapor. The unreacted reagents were washed by solvent - antisolvent precipitation where the product was initially suspended in chloroform (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) and then precipitated with acetone (Fisher Scientific, Hampton, NH, USA) in a 1:2 volume ratio till oleic acid coated particles with 60 wt% iron were obtained.