title: Highly Photoluminescent Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanodots and Their Protective Effects against Oxidative Stress on Cells.
abstract: Highly photoluminescent (PL) (quantum yield = 54%) nitrogen doped carbon nanodots (C-dots) have been prepared through one-step carbonizing citric acid and tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane and using oleic acid as solvent. The synthesized C-dots are monodisperse with narrow size distribution (average 1.7 nm). The PL properties of C-dots are pH dependent, and hence, using C-dots as sophisticated pH sensor to detect pH values between 7 and 9 can be expected. In addition, the PL intensity of C-dots remains stable under high ionic strength. The C-dots can protect cells from oxidative stress, which shows potential to expand the biological application of C-dots, especially in medical treatment. The protective mechanism is associated with intracellular reactive oxygen species elimination and the intracellular superoxide dismutase production.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology & Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (MOE), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, P. R. China.|Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials, Ministry-of-Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation andApplication of Functional Materials, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Hubei Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, Faculty of Materials Science & Engineering, Hubei University , Wuhan 430062, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zi-Qiang
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology & Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (MOE), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jia-Yi
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology & Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (MOE), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jian-Cheng
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology & Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (MOE), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology & Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (MOE), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Feng-Lei
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Virology & Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (MOE), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002477:Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D049449:Luminescence; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: carbon nanodots; highly photoluminescent; nitrogen doped; oxidative stress; protective effects