Hydrophobic Carbon Nanodots with Rapid Cell Penetrability and Tunable Photoluminescence Behavior for in Vitro and in Vivo Imaging.
Tunable fluorescent emission and applications in both in vitro and in vivo imaging of hydrophobic carbon nanodots (CNDs) with rapid penetration capability are reported. The hydrophobic CNDs are prepared via hydrothermal treatment of ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide and exhibit excitation-dependent photoluminescence behavior along with a red-shift in the excitation/emission maxima with concentration. The quantum yields of the as-prepared CNDs are in the range of 2.5-4.8% at an excitation wavelength of 300-600 nm. The rapid penetration behavior (within 1 min) of CNDs into the cell membrane significantly reduces the sample treatment time and avoids potential fluorescence quenching induced by the interaction between CNDs and samples. A co-location study reveals that the hydrophobic CNDs are distributed mainly in the lysosome. The potentials of the hydrophobic CNDs as fluorescent probe in in vitro and in vivo imaging are well demonstrated by the labeling of HeLa cells, MCF-7 cells, A549 cells, and Kunming mice.
Research Center for Analytical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Northeastern University , Box 332, Shenyang 110819, China.
Quan-Xing
QX
Mao
Research Center for Analytical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Northeastern University , Box 332, Shenyang 110819, China.
Shuang
S
E
Research Center for Analytical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Northeastern University , Box 332, Shenyang 110819, China.
Jun-Mei
JM
Xia
Institute of Biotechnology, College of Life and Health Sciences, Northeastern University , Shenyang 110169, China.
Ru-Sheng
RS
Song
Institute of Biotechnology, College of Life and Health Sciences, Northeastern University , Shenyang 110169, China.
Yang
Y
Shu
Research Center for Analytical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Northeastern University , Box 332, Shenyang 110819, China.
Xu-Wei
XW
Chen
Research Center for Analytical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Northeastern University , Box 332, Shenyang 110819, China.
Jian-Hua
JH
Wang
D000072283:A549 Cells; D000818:Animals; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D051379:Mice; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*
D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D002244:Carbon