title: Purification of quantum dot-based bioprobes via high-performance size exclusion chromatography.
abstract: Due to excellent optical properties, quantum dots (QDs) have been widely applied to sensing, labeling, and imaging. For the fabrication of QD-based bioprobes, purification is usually the crucial step. Hydrophilic octylamine grafted polyacrylic acid modified QDs (OPA-QDs) were prepared, and purified by high-performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) to remove excess OPA and aggregated QDs. The percentage of suspended agglomerates of OPA-QDs in the unpurified OPA-QDs increases from 4% to 31% through a year, but the purified OPA-QDs of the same batch possess excellent colloidal stability for at least one year. Subsequently, QD-based bioprobes were fabricated by the conjugation between QDs and streptavidin (SA) or antibody (IgG), generating QD-SA and QD-IgG, respectively, which were purified via HPSEC. Finally, the resulting QD-SA and QD-IgG were adopted to detect tumour markers on slices and showed specific positive signals without nonspecific adsorption, which was contrary to the unpurified QD-IgG. Thus, the HPSEC-coupled system proposed in the current work is potent and universal for the generation of purified and monodisperse QD-based bioprobes, which is promising in the nanobiodetection field.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Virology, The Institute for Advanced Studies and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Jia-Kai
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Virology, The Institute for Advanced Studies and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Quan
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Virology, The Institute for Advanced Studies and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Ling
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Virology, The Institute for Advanced Studies and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: An-An
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Virology, The Institute for Advanced Studies and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Virology, The Institute for Advanced Studies and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Li-Juan
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Virology, The Institute for Advanced Studies and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Liang
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Virology, The Institute for Advanced Studies and Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China. Electronic address: dwpang@whu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dai-Wen
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Pang
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000378:metabolism; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000379:methods*; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D006801:Humans; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry*; D019809:Streptavidin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019809:Streptavidin
keywords: Bioprobes; High-performance size exclusion chromatography; Purification; Quantum dots