Synthesis of Luminescent Carbon Dots with Ultrahigh Quantum Yield and Inherent Folate Receptor-Positive Cancer Cell Targetability

Carbon dots (CDs) have a wide range of applications in chemical, physical and biomedical research fields. We are particularly interested in the use of CDs as fluorescence nanomaterials for targeted tumor cell imaging. One of the important aspects of success is to enhance the fluorescence quantum yie...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2018-01, Vol.8 (1), p.1086-8, Article 1086
Main Authors: Liu, Haifang, Li, Zhaohui, Sun, Yuanqiang, Geng, Xin, Hu, Yalei, Meng, Hongmin, Ge, Jia, Qu, Lingbo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
14/19
639/301/357/354
639/925/357/551
Antineoplastic Agents - chemical synthesis
Antineoplastic Agents - chemistry
Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology
Biocompatibility
Cancer
Carbon
Carbon - chemistry
Cell Line, Tumor
Fluorescence
Fluorescent Dyes - chemical synthesis
Fluorescent Dyes - chemistry
Fluorescent Dyes - pharmacology
Fluorescent indicators
Folate Receptors, GPI-Anchored - metabolism
Folic acid
Folic Acid - chemistry
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
multidisciplinary
Nanomaterials
Nanostructures - chemistry
Nanostructures - ultrastructure
Nanotechnology
Nitrogen
Quantum dots
Quantum Dots - chemistry
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
Tumor cells
Vibration
Vitamin B
X-Ray Diffraction
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Carbon dots (CDs) have a wide range of applications in chemical, physical and biomedical research fields. We are particularly interested in the use of CDs as fluorescence nanomaterials for targeted tumor cell imaging. One of the important aspects of success is to enhance the fluorescence quantum yields (QY) of CDs as well as increase their targetability to tumor cells. However, most of the reported CDs are limited by relative low QY. In the current study, for the first time, one-step synthesis of highly luminescent CDs by using folic acid (FA) as single precursor was obtained in natural water through hydrothermal method. The as-prepared CDs exhibited QY as high as 94.5% in water, which is even higher than most of organic fluorescent dyes. The obtained CDs showed excellent photoluminescent activity, high photostability and favorable biocompatibility. The FA residuals in CDs led to extraordinary targetability to cancer cells and promoted folate receptor-mediated cellular uptake successfully, which holds a great potential in biological and bioimaging studies.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-19373-3