화학공학소재연구정보센터
Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Vol.37, No.20, 1657-1661, 2016
Facile Fabrication of PEGylated Fluorescent Organic Nanoparticles with Aggregation-Induced Emission Feature via Formation of Dynamic Bonds and Their Biological Imaging Applications
Driven by the high demand for sensitive and specific tools for optical imaging, fluorescent nanoprobes with various working mechanisms and advanced functionalities are flourishing at an incredible speed. This work reports the design and fabrication of aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FNPs) via forming dynamic phenyl borate between diol containing hydrophobic AIE dye (APD-PhCHO) and phenylboronic acid pendant hydrophilic polymers (PEGMA-VPBA) within 30 min. The final AIE-active APD-PhCHO-PEGMA-VPBA FNPs display high water dispersibility and strong fluorescence emission because of their amphiphilic properties and AIE feature. Biological evaluation suggests that APD-PhCHO-PEGMA-VPBA FNPs possess negative effect on HeLa cells and desirable optical properties for biological imaging. More importantly, phenyl borate is a dynamic bond with pH and glucose responsiveness. Furthermore, different functions can be designed and introduced into these AIE-active systems through adoption of different monomers for good applicability of free radical polymerization. Therefore, this work provides a novel platform for preparation of multifunctional AIE-active nanosystems with responsiveness for various biomedical applications.