Fluorescence Anisotropy as a Reliable Discrimination of Ligand-Asymmetric and Symmetric Mn-Doped ZnS Quantum Dots.

We presented a novel fluorescence anisotropy (FA) method for the noninvasive, effective, simple, and convenient discrimination of the symmetric and asymmetric distribution of the ligands on Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots (QDs). The symmetric or asymmetric distribution of mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) and NH2-polyethylene glycol-CH3 (PEG-m, MW 2000) was controlled by the condensation reaction of the carboxyl of MPA and the amino of PEG-m with or without the masking by the amino-functionalized silica nanoparticles. The ligand-asymmetric Janus-QDs were obtained with the masking, whereas the ligand-symmetric PEG-QDs were gained without masking. The FA values of the QDs could not only distinguish the ligand symmetric PEG-QDs from the ligand asymmetric Janus-QDs but also discriminate the QDs with a different PEG-m amount. Besides, the FA assay also has superiority over the dynamic light scattering (DLS) and photoluminescence (PL) methods in discriminating the interaction of Janus-QDs or PEG-QDs with protamine (the sensitivity of Janus-QD-3 over PEG-QD-3 was 1.60, 1.24, and 1.11 in the FA, DLS, and PL methods, respectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]