In this article a method is described to prepare composite colloidal nanoparticles, consisting of a magnetic core (carbonyl iron) and a biodegradable polymeric shell [poly(butylcyanoacrylate) or PBCA]. The method is based on the so-called anionic polymerization procedure, often used in the synthesis of poly(alkylcyanoacrylate) nanospheres designed for drug delivery. Interest of this investigation is based upon the fact that the heterogeneous Structure of the particles can confer them both the possibility to respond to external magnetic fields and to be used as drug carriers. In order to investigate to what extent do the particles participate of this mixed properties, we compare in this work the physical characteristics (structure. chemical composition. specific surface area and surface electrical and thermodynamic properties) of the core/shell particles with those of both the nucleus and the coating material. This preliminary study shows that the mixed particles display an intermediate behavior between that of carbonyl iron and PBCA spheres. Electrophoretic mobility measurements as a function of pH and as a function of KNO3 concentration. show a great similarity between the core/shell and pure polymer nanoparticles. Similary, a surface thermodynamic study performed on the three types of particles demonstrated that the electron-donor component of the surface free energy of the solids is very sensitive to the surface composition. In fact. a measurable decrease of such component is found for core/shell particles as compared to carbonyl iron. We also analyzed the influence of the relative amounts of polymer and carbonyl iron on the characteristics of the composite particles: data on the coating thickness, the amount of polymer bound to the magnetic nuclei, the redispersibility characteristics of the suspensions and the surface electrical and thermodynamic properties. suggest that the optimal synthesis conditions are obtained for a 4/3 initial monomer/carbonyl iron weight ratio. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.