ABSTRACT
Nanobiotechnology, a burgeoning scientific and technological field, represents a multidisciplinary branch of sciences. The main objective of the technology is to design and synthesize materials and structures on the nanometer scale that mimic biomolecular architectures and functions. Prevailing commercial nanodiamonds can be roughly classified into three groups according to their particle size: diamondoids, ultra-nanocrystalline particles, and nanocrystalline particles. Nitrogen is the most common impurity in natural and synthetic diamonds. The impurities are incorporated into the crystal lattice as atomically dispersed entities or aggregates to form C-centers. Vacancies in diamond can be created by radiation damage with high-energy electrons, neutrons, protons, alpha particles, or gamma rays. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive technique which can obtain tomographic images of opaque organisms. Fluorescent nanodia-monds linked with magnetic nanoparticles can serve as an MRI contrast agent to study the biodistribution of nanoparticles in animals.
