Highly magnetizable superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles embedded mesoporous silica spheres and their application for efficient recovery of DNA from agarose gel

Mesoporous silica spheres embedded with the superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by a new sol–gel/emulsion approach. The resulting superparamagnetic silica spheres with a saturation magnetization value of 30 emu/g could be enriched completely within 10 s under the application of a 0.4 T magnet. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging indicated a core-shell structure of the spheres. Adsorption and elution experiments of salmon sperm DNA showed an excellent ability of the superparamagnetic mesoporous silica spheres to adsorb DNA. Electrophoresis experiments show that the superparamagnetic mesoporous silica spheres are qualified for efficient recovery of DNA fragments from agarose gel.