AIE-active fluorescent polymeric nanoparticles about dextran derivative: preparation and bioimaging application

Abstract

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE), as a special phenomenon of fluorescence, can elegantly overcome the fluorescence quenching caused by common fluorescent materials under high concentration conditions and has attracted interest of researchers in many fields. Particularly AIE-active polymer nanoparticles have been widely utilized in a modern biomedical research. In this work, we prepared a novel kind of AIE-active fluorescent polymeric nanoparticals (Dex-OH-CHO) through a facile esterification between a new hydrophobic AIE-active 1, 8-naphthalimide derivative and the hydrophilic dextran. The structure and optical properties of Dex-OH-CHO were characterized in detail by FTIR, ¹H NMR, XPS, TEM and fluorescence spectra. The results showed that Dex-OH-CHO emitted light-blue fluorescence in aqueous solution with high fluorescent quantum yield (Φ = 24.43%, concentration is 20 μg/mL), low CMC (5 μg/mL), good photostability, high water solubility and well dispersivity. Moreover, good biocompatibility and ideal cell uptake made Dex-OH-CHO had a great application potential in biological imaging.

Keywords:

• Aggregation-induced emission
• fluorescent polymer
• dextran
• 1,8-naphthalimide derivative
• bioimaging

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21404001), the Anhui Province University Natural Science Research Project (No. KJ2017A008) and the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No.1808085ME55) and National Training Programs of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Undergraduates (No. 201810357016).