Photothermal cancer therapy using graphitic carbon–coated magnetic particles prepared by one-pot synthesis

We describe here a simple synthetic strategy for the fabrication of carbon-coated Fe3O4 (Fe3O4@C) particles using a single-component precursor, iron (III) diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid complex. Physicochemical analyses revealed that the core of the synthesized particles consists of ferromagnetic Fe3O4 material ranging several hundred nanometers, embedded in nitrogen-doped graphitic carbon with a thickness of ~120 nm. Because of their photothermal activity (absorption of near-infrared [NIR] light), the Fe3O4@C particles have been investigated for photothermal therapeutic applications. An example of one such application would be the use of Fe3O4@C particles in human adenocarcinoma A549 cells by means of NIR-triggered cell death. In this system, the Fe3O4@C can rapidly generate heat, causing >98% cell death within 10 minutes under 808 nm NIR laser irradiation (2.3 W cm(-2)). These Fe3O4@C particles provided a superior photothermal therapeutic effect by intratumoral delivery and NIR irradiation of tumor xenografts. These results demonstrate that one-pot synthesis of carbon-coated magnetic particles could provide promising materials for future clinical applications and encourage further investigation of this simple method.