title: Carbon quantum dots: synthesis, characterization, and assessment of cytocompatibility.
abstract: A simple method for the synthesis of water-soluble carbon quantum dots (CQDs) has been developed by chemical oxidation treatment of the flour. The as-synthesized CQDs were monodispersed sphere particles with the approximate diameter of 5-8 nm, and exhibited strong fluorescence, excitation-dependent photoluminescence behavior and high photostability in a wide range of pH values. We investigated the cytotoxicity of as-prepared CQDs using rat mesangial cells (RMC). Compared with CdTe quantum dots, CQDs show no apparent cytotoxicity and much better biosafety property. The as-synthesized CQDs were also tested to label and image RMC in vitro and demonstrated to be highly promising biological fluorescent probes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Zhengwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Zhengyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Jianqiu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002460:Cell Line; D045663:Quantum Dots; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002244:Carbon