Citation: Xiaokai Chen, Xiaodong Zhang, Fu-Gen Wu. Ultrasmall green-emitting carbon nanodots with 80% photoluminescence quantum yield for lysosome imaging[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2021, 32(10): 3048-3052. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2021.03.061 shu

Ultrasmall green-emitting carbon nanodots with 80% photoluminescence quantum yield for lysosome imaging

State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

wufg@seu.edu.cn

Received Date: 26 February 2021
Revised Date: 22 March 2021
Accepted Date: 23 March 2021
Available Online: 23 March 2021

Figures(4)

Carbon-based fluorescent nanomaterials have gained much attention in recent years. In this work, green-photoluminescent carbon nanodots (CNDs; also termed carbon dots, CDs) with amine termination were synthesized via the hydrothermal treatment of amine-containing spermine and rose bengal (RB) molecules. The CNDs have an ultrasmall size of ~2.2 nm and present bright photoluminescence with a high quantum yield of ~80% which is possibly attributed to the loss of halogen atoms (Cl and I) during the hydrothermal reaction. Different from most CNDs which have multicolor fluorescence emission, the as-prepared CNDs possess excitation-independent emission property, which can avoid fluorescence overlap with other fluorescent dyes. Moreover, the weakly basic amine-terminated surface endows the CNDs with the acidotropic effect. As a result, the CNDs can accumulate in the acidic lysosomes after cellular internalization and can serve as a favorable agent for lysosome imaging. Besides, the CNDs have a negligible impact on the lysosomal morphology even after 48 h incubation and exhibit excellent biocompatibility in the used cell models.
- Carbon dots,
- Carbon-based nanomaterials,
- Lysosomal tracking,
- Cell imaging,
- Fluorescent probes
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