Figure 3.

Preparation of fluorescently labelled silica-coated magnetic nanocomposites. (i) Initial optional coating with sodium silicate; (ii) base catalysed condensation of TEOS on nanoparticle surface; (iii) covalent attachement of carboxyl fluorophore to 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane via EDC coupling step; (iv) condensation of silane-modified fluorophore onto silica-coated magnetic particle