Polyetherimide functionalized carbon dots with enhanced red emission in aqueous solution for bioimaging  

作　　者：Liming Wang Bingzhe Wang Enshan Liu Yunyang Zhao Bingchen He Chunfei Wang Guichuan Xing Zikang Tang Yinning Zhou Songnan Qu 

机构地区：[1]Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering,University of Macao,Macao SAR,China [2]Cancer Centre and Centre of Reproduction,Development and Aging,Faculty of Health Sciences,University of Macao,Macao SAR,China

出　　处：《Chinese Chemical Letters》2022年第8期4111-4115,共5页中国化学快报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.61922091);the Science and Technology Development Fund of Macao SAR(Nos.0040/2019/A1,0073/2019/AMJ,0128/2020/A3 and 0131/2020/A3);University of Macao(Nos.SRG2019-00163-IAPME,MYRG2019-00103-IAPME)。

摘　　要：Red emissive carbon dots(CDs)are highly desired for biological applications.However,serious luminescence quenching of red emissive CDs in aqueous solution greatly hinders their application in high performance biological imaging.Herein,we reported a facile strategy to realize enhanced red emission of CDs in aqueous solution by surface modification with polyetherimide(PEI)via microwave heating method.High photoluminescence quantum yield(PLQY)of 25%was realized from the PEI functionalized CDs(CDs@PEI)in aqueous solution.The proposed PEI functionalization strategy not only protects the red emission against water molecules quenching,but also reverses the surface charges from negativity to positivity to promote cellular uptake of CDs,leading to clear cell imaging in red fluorescence region.More important,CDs@PEI exhibits much better photostability than commercial red emissive dye(MitoT racker red)in cell fluorescent imaging.Potential application of CDs@PEI on fast staining of cells for clonogenic assay has also been demonstrated.

关 键 词：Carbon dots(CDs) Biological imaging Red emission Surface passivation Microwave heating 

分 类 号：TB383.1[一般工业技术—材料科学与工程]