1. Large Scale Synthesis of Highly Stable Fluorescent Carbon Dots Using Silica Spheres as Carriers for Targeted Bioimaging of Cancer Cells.
- Author
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Wang, Chuanxi, Xu, Zhenzhu, Lin, Huihui, Huang, Yijun, and Zhang, Chi
- Subjects
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QUANTUM dot synthesis , *CARBON , *SILICA , *CANCER cell analysis , *HYDROTHERMAL synthesis , *FLUORESCENT probes , *CELL imaging , *FOLIC acid - Abstract
In this paper, fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) loaded on silica (SiO2) spheres are synthesized by the one-pot hydrothermal route, and then folic acids (FA) are covalently conjugated on the surface of SiO2 spheres. The formed SiO2@CDs-FA composites can target specific tissues, e.g., cancer. The key of this method is the employment of (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane as bridge joint, which not only serves as surface passivation agents allowing the large scale synthesis of CDs with high quantum yield, but also enables SiO2@CDs composites further covalent conjugation of FA. The resultant SiO2@CDs composites have many advantages such as easy separation and purification, highly stable, well water-soluble, and biocompatible. Moreover, the SiO2@CDs-FA could be used as fluorescent probes for biological imaging in vitro. The uptake of the SiO2@CDs-FA into HeLa cells is receptor-mediated endocytosis, which is confirmed by a comparative study using FR-negative 293T cells. Findings from this study suggest that the SiO2@CDs-FA composites could be used as a platform for cancer diagnosis studies in various biological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
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