Mediator Monomer Regulated Emulsion Interfacial Polymerization to Synthesize Nanofractal Magnetic Particles for Nucleic Acid Separation

Polymer-based magnetic particles have been widely used for the separation of biological samples including nucleic acids, proteins, virus, and cells. Existing magnetic particles are almost prepared by coating polymers on magnetic nanoparticles (NPs). However, this strategy usually encounters the problem of poor magnetic NPs loading capacity. Here, a series of nanofractal magnetic particles (nanoFMPs) synthesized by a strategy of mediator monomer regulated emulsion interfacial polymerization is presented, which allows effective magnetic NPs loading and show efficient nucleic acid separation performance. The mediator monomers facilitate the dispersion of magnetic NPs in internal phase to achieve higher loading, and the hydrophilic monomers use electrostatic interactions to form surface nanofractal structures with functional groups. Compared with magnetic particles without nanofractal structure, nanoFMPs exhibit a higher nucleic acid extraction capability. This strategy offers an effective and versatile way for the synthesis of nanoFMPs toward efficient separation in various fields from clinical diagnosis to food safety and environmental monitoring.