title: A unique aliphatic tertiary amine chromophore: fluorescence, polymer structure, and application in cell imaging.
abstract: Although photoluminescence of tertiary aliphatic amines has been extensively studied, the usage of this fundamental chromophore as a fluorescent probe for various applications has unfortunately not been realized because their uncommon fluorescence is easily quenched, and strong fluorescence has been observed only in vapor phase. The objective of this study is how to retain the strong fluorescence of tertiary amines in polymers. Tertiary amines as branching units of the hyperbranched poly(amine-ester) (HypET) display relatively strong fluorescence (Φ = 0.11-0.43). The linear polymers with tertiary amines in the backbone or as the side group are only very weakly fluorescent. The tertiary amine of HypET is easily oxidized under ambient conditions, and red-shifting of fluorescence for the oxidized products has been observed. The galactopyranose-modified HypET exhibits low cytotoxicity and bright cell imaging. Thus, this study opens a new route of synthesizing fluorescent materials for cell imaging, biosensing, and drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Chun-Yan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Cai-Yuan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D050091:Dendrimers / Q000032:analysis*; D005453:Fluorescence; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000032:analysis*; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D011073:Polyamines / Q000032:analysis*; D011091:Polyesters / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D050091:Dendrimers; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; C104700:PAMAM Starburst; D011073:Polyamines; D011091:Polyesters; C516446:poly(caprolactone-block-ethyleneimine)