Bioconjugation of ultrabright semiconducting polymer dots for specific cellular targeting.

ABSTRACT: Semiconducting polymer dots (Pdots) represent a new class of ultrabright fluorescent probes for biological imaging. They exhibit several important characteristics for experimentally demanding in vitro and in vivo fluorescence studies, such as their high brightness, fast emission rate, excellent photostability, nonblinking, and nontoxic feature. However, controlling the surface chemistry and bioconjugation of Pdots has been a challenging problem that prevented their widespread applications in biological studies. Here, we report a facile yet powerful conjugation method that overcomes this challenge. Our strategy for Pdot functionalization is based on entrapping heterogeneous polymer chains into a single dot, driven by hydrophobic interactions during nanoparticle formation. A small amount of

SUBMITTER: Wu C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2965818 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature