EPR spectroscopy and imaging of TEMPO-labeled magnetite nanoparticles

The article presents results of a study of TEMPO-labeled polymer coated superparamagnetic iron(II,III) oxide nanoparticles using both Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance imaging technique (EPRI). The X-band (9.4 GHz) EPR spectroscopy was used to investigate the behavior of TEMPO-labeled polymer coated magnetite nanoparticles in different conditions (temperature and orientation in magnetic field). The broad line, which comes from the core of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, shows anisotropy. This signal broadens with decreasing temperature, its intensity increases with increasing temperature and the g factor decreases with increasing temperature. The shape of the signal from nitroxide radical strongly depends on temperature. When temperature is higher than 200 K, a narrow triplet appears, but when it is lower than 200 K the signal consists of broad asymmetric lines. Analysis of the signal allowed characterization of the motion of the spin label attached to nanoparticles. Values of anisotropy parameter ɛ and rotational correlation time τ_c were calculated for TEMPO in the fast rotation regime.The ability of TEMPO-labeled PEG coated magnetite nanoparticles to diffuse within the hydrogel medium was also investigated. The EPR imaging of nanoparticles diffusion in hydrogel was made at room temperature using an EPR L-band (1 GHz) spectrometer. EPRI has been proved effective for evaluation of changes in the spatial distribution of nanoparticles in the sample.