title: Carrier-free, water dispersible and highly luminescent dye nanoparticles for targeted cell imaging.
abstract: We develop a new strategy of using surface functionalized small molecule organic dye nanoparticles (NPs) for targeted cell imaging. Organic dye (2-tert-butyl-9,10-di(naphthalen-2-yl)anthracene, TBADN) was fabricated into NPs and this was followed by surface modification with an amphipathic surfactant poly(maleic anhydride-alt-1-octadecene)-polyethylene glycol (C18PMH-PEG) through hydrophobic interactions to achieve good water dispersibility and bio-environmental stability. It should be noted that no additional inert materials were added as carriers, thus the dye-loading capacity of the resulting TBADN NPs is obviously higher than those of previously reported carrier-based structures. This would lead to much larger absorption and then much higher brightness. The resulting TBADN NPs possess comparable, if not higher, brightness than CdSe/ZnS quantum dots under the same conditions, with favorable biocompatibility. Significantly, TBADN NPs are readily conjugated with folic acid, and successfully applied in targeted cell imaging. These results show that water dispersible and highly stable organic NPs would be a promising new class of fluorescent probe for bioapplications in cellular imaging and labeling. This strategy may be straightforwardly extended to other organic dyes to achieve water dispersible NPs for cell imaging and drug delivery.
authors: Functional Nano & Soft Materials Laboratory-FUNSOM, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China.
authors: Xiaojun
authors: X
authors: Diao
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Li
authors: Jia
authors: J
authors: Yu
authors: Xiaojing
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: Xiujuan
authors: X
authors: Zhang
authors: Yinlong
authors: Y
authors: Yang
authors: Feifei
authors: F
authors: An
authors: Zhuang
authors: Z
authors: Liu
authors: Xiaohong
authors: X
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000873:Anthracenes / Q000737:chemistry; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D045663:Quantum Dots; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000873:Anthracenes; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D011108:Polymers; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D014867:Water; C034020:anthracene