Synthesis of a thermoresponsive crosslinked MEO2MA polymer coating on microclusters of iron oxide nanoparticles Lapresta Fernández, Alejandro Salinas Castillo, Alfonso Capitán Vallvey, Luis Fermín Encapsulation of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) of iron (II, III) oxide ( Fe3O4) with a thermopolymeric shell of a crosslinked poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) P(MEO2MA) is successfully developed. Magnetic aggregates of large size, around 150–200 nm are obtained during the functionalization of the iron oxide NPs with vinyl groups by using 3-butenoic acid in the presence of a water soluble azo-initiator and a surfactant, at 70 °C. These polymerizable groups provide a covalent attachment of the P(MEO2MA) shell on the surface of the MNPs while a crosslinked network is achieved by including tetraethylene glycol dimethacrylate in the precipitation polymerization synthesis. Temperature control is used to modulate the swelling-to-collapse transition volume until a maximum of around 21:1 ratio between the expanded: shrunk states (from 364 to 144 nm in diameter) between 9 and 49 °C. The hybrid Fe3O4@ P(MEO2MA) microgel exhibits a lower critical solution temperature of 21.9 °C below the corresponding value for P(MEO2MA) (bulk, 26 °C). The MEO2MA coating performance in the hybrid microgel is characterized by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The content of preformed MNPs [up to 30.2 (wt%) vs. microgel] was established by thermogravimetric analysis while magnetic properties by vibrating sample magnetometry. 2021-03-19T11:25:30Z 2021-03-19T11:25:30Z 2021-02-17 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Lapresta-Fernández, A., Salinas-Castillo, A., & Capitán-Vallvey, L. F. (2021). Synthesis of a thermoresponsive crosslinked MEO 2 MA polymer coating on microclusters of iron oxide nanoparticles. Scientific reports, 11(1), 1-8. [ http://hdl.handle.net/10481/67344 10.1038/s41598-021-83608-z eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España Nature Research