title: Water-soluble mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA)-coated CdTe quantum dots: one-step microwave synthesis, characterization and cancer cell imaging.
abstract: In this study, a one-step approach for aqueous synthesis of highly luminescent semiconductors, CdTe quantum dots (QDs), using long-chain thiols-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) as surface ligand, was developed in a microwave irradiation system. The synthetic conditions were systematically investigated. The as-prepared MUA-coated QDs were characterized by various spectroscopy techniques, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The experimental results document that MUA-coated CdTe QDs have small diameter, good stability, high luminescence and long lifetime. Particularly, it was confirmed, using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) that, compared with other ligand, MUA formed a thicker ligand layer on the QD surfaces, which will help their stability and conjugation with biomolecules. Furthermore, MUA-coated QDs were successfully used for HeLa cell imaging.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chaoqing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Jicun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D049449:Luminescence; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008872:Microwaves; D057054:Molecular Imaging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D010316:Particle Size; D045663:Quantum Dots; D012666:Semiconductors; D012995:Solubility; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013691:Tellurium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: C505222:11-mercaptoundecanoic acid; D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D005227:Fatty Acids; D008024:Ligands; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D014867:Water; D013691:Tellurium; C028337:cadmium telluride