title: Fluorescent porous carbon nanocapsules for two-photon imaging, NIR/pH dual-responsive drug carrier, and photothermal therapy.
abstract: An efficient nanomedical platform that can combine two-photon cell imaging, near infrared (NIR) light and pH dual responsive drug delivery, and photothermal treatment was successfully developed based on fluorescent porous carbon-nanocapsules (FPC-NCs, size ∼100 nm) with carbon dots (CDs) embedded in the shell. The stable, excitation wavelength (λex)-tunable and upconverted fluorescence from the CDs embedded in the porous carbon shell enable the FPC-NCs to serve as an excellent confocal and two-photon imaging contrast agent under the excitation of laser with a broad range of wavelength from ultraviolet (UV) light (405 nm) to NIR light (900 nm). The FPC-NCs demonstrate a very high loading capacity (1335 mg g(-1)) toward doxorubicin drug benefited from the hollow cavity structure, porous carbon shell, as well as the supramolecular π stacking and electrostatic interactions between the doxorubicin molecules and carbon shell. In addition, a responsive release of doxorubicin from the FPC-NCs can be activated by lowering the pH to acidic (from 7.4 to 5.0) due to the presence of pH-sensitive carboxyl groups on the FPC-NCs and amino groups on doxorubicin molecules. Furthermore, the FPC-NCs can absorb and effectively convert the NIR light to heat, thus, manifest the ability of NIR-responsive drug release and combined photothermal/chemo-therapy for high therapeutic efficacy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry of College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, Staten Island, NY 10314, USA.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Yubing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry of College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, Staten Island, NY 10314, USA.
authors.forename: Jinhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology of College of Staten Island, The City University of New York, Staten Island, NY 10314, USA.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Di
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology of College of Staten Island, The City University of New York, Staten Island, NY 10314, USA.
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: del Carmen Alonso
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry of College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, Staten Island, NY 10314, USA. Electronic address: shuiqin.zhou@csi.cuny.edu.
authors.forename: Shuiqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D004337:Drug Carriers; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D015394:Molecular Structure; D053769:Nanocapsules; D017785:Photons; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D053769:Nanocapsules; D002244:Carbon
keywords: Carbon dots; Hollow nanostructure; Photothermal therapy; Responsive drug release; Two-photon imaging