title: Facile synthesis of AIE-active amphiphilic polymers: Self-assembly and biological imaging applications.
abstract: In this work, we reported a rather facile method for fabrication of ultrabright, well dispersible and biocompatible fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties through combination of esterification and ring-opening reaction. The hydroxyl groups of Pluronic F127 was first reacted with the chloride of trimellitic anhydride chloride (TMAC), and its anhydride groups were further reacted with the amino groups of amino-terminated AIE dye (PhNH2) through ring-opening reaction. The optical properties, biocompatibility as well as cell uptake behavior of these obtained AIE-active nanoparticles (F127-TMAC-PhNH2 FONs) were examined by a series of characterization techniques and assays. We demonstrated that uniform organic nanoparticles with high water dispersibility, strong luminescence and desirable biocompatibility can be facilely obtained, which are promising for biological imaging applications. More importantly, a number of carboxyl groups were introduced into these AIE-active nanoparticles, which can be further utilized for further conjugation reaction and carrying anticancer drugs such as cisplatin. Therefore, the strategy of described in this work should be a simple and useful route for fabrication of multifunctional AIE-active luminescent nanotheranostic systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Zi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Meiying
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and the Tsinghua Center for Frontier Polymer Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Fengjie
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Dazhuang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330006, China.
authors.forename: Liangji
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Yiqun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and the Tsinghua Center for Frontier Polymer Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Yen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000072283:A549 Cells; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000633:toxicity; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D010640:Phenothiazines / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D020442:Poloxamer / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D010640:Phenothiazines; D011108:Polymers; D020442:Poloxamer; C031637:phenothiazine
keywords: Aggregation induced emission; Biological imaging applications; Drug delivery; Pluronic F127; Ring-opening reaction