title: Surfactant-assisted synthesis of water-soluble and biocompatible semiconductor quantum dot micelles.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Synthesis and Nanomaterials Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106, USA. hfan@sandia.gov
authors.forename: Hongyou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Erik W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Leve
authors.forename: Chessa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scullin
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gabaldon
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tallant
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bunge
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: C Jeffrey
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Brinker
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D008823:Micelles; D018036:Selenium Compounds; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; C058667:cadmium selenide