Anisotropic polymeric colloidal or Janus particles possessing simultaneous magnetic and fluorescent properties were successfully prepared via the swelling-diffusion or the in situ emulsion polymerization method. In the swelling-diffusion process, magnetic emulsions (an organic ferrofluid dispersed in aqueous medium) were synthesized and used for seeds of submicron magnetic Janus particles. After swelling the anisotropic particles obtained by 1-pyrene-carboxaldehyde fluorescent dye dissolved in tetrahydrofuran, well-defined fluorescent-magnetic Janus particles were produced. In the in situ emulsion polymerization, styrene monomer mixed with fluorescent dye monomers, i.e., 1-pyrenylmethyl methacrylate (PyMMA) or fluorescein dimethacrylate (FDMA), and an oil-soluble initiator (2,2'-azobis(2-isobutyronitrile)) were emulsified in the presence of magnetic seed emulsions. The confocal microscopic images showed the fluorescent-magnetic Janus particles with high fluorescent intensity when a fluorescent crosslinker monomer FDMA was employed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.