Abstract: The present application relates to a chemical compound comprising an aromatic core, or a carbocyclic, non-aromatic, core, wherein the aromatic core is a benzene ring or a biphenyl; the carbocyclic, non-aromatic core is a 5 to 7 membered ring. The core has covalently attached thereto: at least two anchoring groups, each anchoring group comprising an activated silane group, wherein the anchoring groups have the following general formula -A-(CH2)nSiY3 wherein A is a covalent bond or O, “n” is an integer from 1 to 3, and Y is independently a methoxy group or an ethoxy group; and at least one hydrophilic group extending from the core, the hydrophilic group comprising one or more hydrophilic polymer residues with a molecular composition of (aO+bN)/(cC+dS+eSi+fP)>0.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are globular nanostructures having a hydrodynamic diameter (Dh) of 8-100 nm comprising a central part and a peripheral part, wherein said central part has a calculated diameter (Dc) of 6-90 nm and said peripheral part has an estimated thickness (Tp) so that Dh=Dc+2Tp, wherein said central part comprises: (i) a crosslinked polymeric framework comprising monomer residues wherein at least 30% by number of the monomer residues have crosslinked thereby forming the crosslinked polymeric framework and/or (ii) a branched polymeric framework comprising monomer residues wherein the number of branch points is at least 30% of the number of monomer residues, wherein said central part comprises chelating groups of which at least 4 allow chelation of at least one multiply charged cation, wherein said chelating groups are independently selected from the group consisting of —COOR1, —P?O(OR1)(OR2), and —S(?O)2OR1, wherein R1 and R2 are independently selected from the group consisting of a negative charge, H, a