Highly fluorescent and bioresorbable polymeric nanoparticles with enhanced photostability for cell imaging

Abstract

We report a facile and general strategy for enhancing the photostability of organic fluorophores for bioimaging applications. As a proof of concept, bright and robust fluorescence was observed in solid states of a well-defined synthetic polymer polycaprolactone consisting of di(thiophene-2-yl)-diketopyrrolopyrrole covalently linked in the middle of the polymer chain as a biocompatible and bioresorbable matrix. The nanoparticles prepared through a nanoprecipitation process of these polymers could be internalized by both tumor cells and stem cells with little cytotoxicity. Moreover, these highly fluorescent nanoparticles exhibited significantly enhanced photostability compared to commercial quantum dots or physical blends of dye/polymer complexes in cell imaging and long-term tracing.

Highly fluorescent polycaprolactones decorated with di(thiophene‐2‐yl)‐diketopyrrolopyrrole: A covalent strategy of tuning fluorescence properties in solid states

“…Our strategy to retain strong fluorescence of fluorophore (DPP in this case) in NP dispersions will be important for applications such as bioimaging. 59 The segregation effect of PCL side chains was further observed in thin films and bulk solid states as discussed in the following section. Such different optical properties can be seen more quantitatively in the UV-Vis absorption and FL emission spectra of these samples in films.…”

“…59 Nevertheless, the effect of PCL chain length on the fluorescent properties of DPP inside the NPs remains unclear. In this section, we describe experiments that examine how the chain-length variation of PCL affects the optical properties of DPP in the form of colloidal NPs.…”

A narrow-bandgap benzobisthiadiazole derivative with high near-infrared photothermal conversion efficiency and robust photostability for cancer therapy

“…Scheme 1 shows the molecular structure of BBTEHT and a schematic presentation of the NPs formed through a nanoprecipitation process. 42 More experimental details of the NP preparation are described in the Supplementary Information. At a concentration (e.g.…”

LaF3 core/shell nanoparticles for subcutaneous heating and thermal sensing in the second biological-window

“…11 Despite the continuously growing list of systems that could operate as simultaneous NHs and nanothermometers (NThs), including polymeric NPs, quantum dots, nanodiamonds, metallic NPs, and rare earth-doped NPs, only a few of them show real potential of working subcutaneously. [12][13][14] This is so because most of them operate in the visible spectrum domain, where optical penetration into tissues is minimal. To avoid this limitation, it is necessary to shift their operation spectral range from the visible to the spectral infrared ranges where tissues become partially transparent (due to simultaneous attenuation in both tissue absorption and scattering), lying in the so-called biological windows (BWs).…”