Surfactant-assisted synthesis of water-soluble and biocompatible semiconductor quantum dot micelles.
We report a simple, rapid approach to synthesize water-soluble and biocompatible fluorescent quantum dot (QD) micelles by encapsulation of monodisperse, hydrophobic QDs within surfactant/lipid micelles. Analyses of UV-vis and photo luminescence spectra, along with transmission electron microscopy, indicate that the water-soluble semiconductor QD micelles are monodisperse and retain the optical properties of the original hydrophobic QDs. The QD micelles were shown to be biocompatible and exhibited little or no aggregation when taken up by cultured rat hippocampal neurons.
Fan
Hongyou
H
Chemical Synthesis and Nanomaterials Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106, USA. hfan@sandia.gov
Leve
Erik W
EW
Scullin
Chessa
C
Gabaldon
John
J
Tallant
David
D
Bunge
Scott
S
Boyle
Tim
T
Wilson
Michael C
MC
Brinker
C Jeffrey
CJ
D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology; D008823:Micelles; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D045663:Quantum Dots; D051381:Rats; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D012666:Semiconductors; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D008823:Micelles; D018036:Selenium Compounds; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; C058667:cadmium selenide