Functionalized Iron Oxide–Metal Hybrid Nanoparticles for Protein Extraction from Complex Fluids

Abstract

Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by following the hydrothermal method and were then used for the in situ growth of tiny metallic NPs in order to produce Fe3O4–Au/Ag/Pd hybrid NPs. The hybrid NPs were characterized by various techniques to determine their shape and size, as well as the distribution of the metallic NPs. The hybrid NPs thus produced were used as vehicles for protein extraction from complex biological mixtures such as bacterial cell extract. The presence of tiny metallic NPs facilitated protein surface adsorption from the complex biological mixture, whereas Fe3O4 NPs helped in an easy extraction process of protein loaded NPs from the aqueous phase by using the external magnetic field. SDS–PAGE analysis was performed to characterize the various protein fractions. It was observed that the hybrid NPs were much more efficient in extracting different protein fractions in comparison to pure Fe3O4 NPs because the presence of nanometallic surfaces in fact catalyzed the protein extraction pr...