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Abstract
As part of our efforts to develop nanomaterials with tunable optical properties, we devised a synthetic protocol to photoactivate the luminescence of hydrophilic carbon dots by ‘caging’ the nanostructures with photocleavable 2-nitrobenzyl quenchers. Photoremovable 2-nitrobenzyl groups can be attached covalently to the surface of the carbon dots via amide-bond formation. We show that 2-nitrobenzyls efficiently quench the emission intensity of the resulting nanoconstructs and that the luminescence can be activated upon ultraviolet illumination in solution. In addition, the carbon dots can be internalized by living cells and used as bioimaging agents.
Supplementary materials
Title
Supplementary Information
Description
Materials and methods; Synthesis of carbon dots (CDs 1); Conjugation of 2-Nitrobenzylamine to CDs (2NB-CDs 2); Synthesis of model quencher compound 2NB-OMe (3); Cell culture and pinocytosis of CDs 1; Cell culture and photoinduced uncaging of 2NB-CDs 2; Live-cell confocal microscopy; Image and statistical analysis; TEM images and size distribution of CDs 1; XPS spectra of CDs 1; FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR of CDs 1; Emission quenching and Stern-Volmer plot of CDs 1 with increasing amounts of 3; Voltammetry of CDs; Photostability of CDs 1 under UVA irradiation; Microscopy and statistical analysis of RAW 264.7 macrophages exposed to 2NB-CDs 2.
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