PUBLICATION

One-pot synthesis of highly luminescent carbon quantum dots and their nontoxic ingestion by zebrafish for in vivo imaging

Authors
Huang, Y.F., Zhou, X., Zhou, R., Zhang, H., Kang, K.B., Zhao, M., Peng, Y., Wang, Q., Zhang, H.L., Qiu, W.Y.
ID
ZDB-PUB-140513-259
Date
2014
Source
Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)   20: 5640-8 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Wang, Qiang
Keywords
glycerol, green chemistry, in vivo imaging, quantum dots, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Diagnostic Imaging/methods*
  • Fluorescence
  • Glycerol/chemical synthesis*
  • Glycerol/chemistry*
  • Green Chemistry Technology
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Luminescence
  • Quantum Dots/chemistry*
  • Silicon/chemistry*
  • Zebrafish/metabolism*
PubMed
24677275 Full text @ Chemistry
Abstract
Photoluminescent carbon and/or silicon-based nanodots have attracted ever increasing interest. Accordingly, a myriad of synthetic methodologies have been developed to fabricate them, which unfortunately, however, frequently involve relatively tedious steps, such as initial surface passivation and subsequent functionalization. Herein, we describe a green and sustainable synthetic strategy to combine these procedures into one step and to produce highly luminescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs), which can also be easily fabricated into flexible thin films with intense luminescence for future roll-to-roll manufacturing of optoelectronic devices. The as-synthesized CQDs exhibited enhanced cellular permeability and low or even noncytotoxicity for cellular applications, as corroborated by confocal fluorescence imaging of HeLa cells as well as cell viability measurements. Most strikingly, zebrafish were directly fed with CQDs for in vivo imaging, and mortality and morphologic analysis indicated ingestion of the CQDs posed no harm to the living organisms. Hence, the multifunctional CQDs potentially provide a rich pool of tools for optoelectronic and biomedical applications.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
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Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping