title: Green Synthesis of Red-Emitting Carbon Nanodots as a Novel "Turn-on" Nanothermometer in Living Cells.
abstract: Temperature measurements in biology and medical diagnostics, along with sensitive temperature probing of living cells, is of great importance; however, it still faces significant challenges. Herein, a novel "turn-on" carbon-dot-based fluorescent nanothermometry device for spatially resolved temperature measurements in living cells is presented. The carbon nanodots (CNDs) are prepared by a green microwave-assisted method and exhibit red fluorescence (λem =615 nm) with high quantum yields (15 %). Then, an on-off fluorescent probe is prepared for detecting glutathione (GSH) based on aggregation-induced fluorescence quenching. Interestingly, the quenched fluorescence could be recovered by increasing temperature and the CNDs-GSH mixture could behave as an off-on fluorescent probe for temperature. Thus, red-emitting CNDs can be utilized for "turn-on" fluorescent nanothermometry through the fluorescence quenching and recovery processes, respectively. We employ MC3T3-E1 cells as an example model to demonstrate the red-emitting CNDs can function as "non-contact" tools for the accurate measurement of temperature and its gradient inside a living cell.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, 200092, P.R. China. wangcx@jiangnan.edu.cn.|School of Chemical & Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, P. R. China. wangcx@jiangnan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chuanxi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical & Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Kaili
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical & Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical & Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jiapeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, 200092, P.R. China. chi.zhang@jiangnan.edu.cn, chizhang@tongji.edu.cn.|School of Chemical & Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, P. R. China. chi.zhang@jiangnan.edu.cn, chizhang@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay / Q000379:methods; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D055772:Green Chemistry Technology; D051379:Mice; D008872:Microwaves; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D002244:Carbon; D005978:Glutathione
keywords: carbon nanodots; fluorescence; green chemistry; nanoparticles; nanotechnology