title: Non-enzymatic-browning-reaction: a versatile route for production of nitrogen-doped carbon dots with tunable multicolor luminescent display.
abstract: The non-enzymatic browning, namely Maillard reaction is commonly invoked to account for abiotic chemical transformations of organic matter. Here we report a new reaction pathway via the Maillard reaction to systematically synthesize a series of nitrogen-doped carbon dots (C-dots) with superhigh quantum yield (QY) and tunable multicolor luminescent displayment. The starting materials are glucose and the serial amino acid analogues which allow systemically controlling luminescent and physicochemical properties of C-dots at will. Unexpectedly, the as-prepared C-dots possess bright photoluminescence with QY up to 69.1% which is almost the highest ever reported, favorable biocompatibility, excellent aqueous and nonaqueous dispersibility, ultrahigh photostability, and readily functionalization. We have demonstrated that they are particularly suitable for multicolor luminescent display and long-term and real-time cellular imaging. Furthermore, the methodology is readily scalable to large yield, and can provide sufficient amount of C-dots for practical demands.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun, Jilin 130022, China.
authors.forename: Weili
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun, Jilin 130022, China.
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun, Jilin 130022, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun, Jilin 130022, China.
authors.forename: Jiasi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun, Jilin 130022, China.
authors.forename: Jinsong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Changchun, Jilin 130022, China.
authors.forename: Xiaogang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qu
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D003116:Color; D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D049449:Luminescence; D015416:Maillard Reaction; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen