Special diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)-chitosan-coated cobalt ferrite core/shell nanoparticles have been synthesized via a novel zero-length emulsion crosslinking process and characterized via crosslinking degree, simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry, Xray diffractometry, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and vibration sample magnetometry. The experimental results showed that the CoFe2O4 nanoparticles were really encapsulated with a DTPA-chitosan hybrid layer and the nanocomposites were proved to be nearly superparamagnetic with saturation magnetization of 26.6 emu g(-1). (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.