title: Fluorescent amphiphilic PEG-peptide-PEG triblock conjugate micelles for cell imaging.
abstract: A fluorescent amphiphilic poly(ethylene glycol)-peptide-fluorophore-peptide-poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-Pep-F-Pep-PEG) triblock conjugate with a hydrophobic fluorophore moiety at the centre of the chain is synthesized by "grafting to" technique based on Schiff-base coupling chemistry. The conjugate is characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), circular dichroism (CD), and fluorescence spectroscopy techniques. The aqueous solution of the triblock conjugate emits blue light and exhibits a fluorescence emission band at 430 nm. The amphiphilic conjugate molecules undergo self-assembly into micelles (D ≈ 15-20 nm) in aqueous solution as confirmed from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The critical aggregation concentration is determined by pyrene fluorescence assay and is found to be 0.051 mg mL(-1) . The highly stable and low toxic fluorescent PEG-Pep-F-Pep-PEG conjugate micelles are used for imaging of HeLa cells.
authors.affiliation: Polymer Science Unit, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata, 700 032, India.
authors.forename: Tapas K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Paira
authors.forename: Anupam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: Sanjib
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: Tamalika
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Pradip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Nikhil R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Jana
authors.forename: Tarun K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Mandal
mesh_terms: D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008823:Micelles; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008823:Micelles; D012996:Solutions; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols