In this study, a simple method to prepare a novel magnetic carrier based on carbon matrix has been built by heating the aqueous Solution of glucose and oleic acid-stabilized Fe3O4 natioparticle at 170 degrees C for 3h. The results show that the surface hydrophobic modification of FC3O4 nanoparticle is necessary for the successful synthesis of Fe3O4/C nanocomposition, and a possible formation mechanism of Fe3O4/C nanocomposition was presented. The influence of the reaction parameters such as the concentration of oleic acid-stabilized Fe3O4 nanoparticle, the reaction time, etc. on the product was also investigated. In the typical reaction (2.5 g/L of oleic acid-stabilized Fe3O4 nanoparticle, 0.5 M of glucose), Fe3O4/C nanocornpositions with the average diameter in the range 100-200 mn were obtained and its saturation is 12.4emu/g. In order to characterize Fe3O4/C nanocornpositions, XPS, XRD, FT-IR, and Mossbauer spectra were employed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.