Doping carbon dots with nitrogen atoms considerably enhances their fluorescence properties. However, the mechanism by which the carbon dots are doped is not fully understood. We developed a facile bottom-up hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process that uses glucose and glycine as precursors for the synthesis of photoluminescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots. The as-prepared nitrogen-doped carbon dots were mono-dispersed spherical particles with a diameter of -2.8 nm. The doped nitrogen atoms assumed pyridinic type and pyrrolic type configurations to participate in the nanocrystal structure of the carbon dots. It appeared that the nitrogen doping introduces a new internal structure. The aqueous solution of nitrogen-doped carbon dots showed excitation wavelength-dependent multicolor photoluminescence. Further, these nitrogen-doped carbon dots readily entered the cytoplasm of A549 cancer cells and showed no significant cytotoxicity. The internalized nitrogen-doped carbon dots were localized to the cell membrane and cytoplasm, particularly around the nucleus. Further, the as-prepared, biocompatible, nitrogen-doped carbon dots demonstrated the potential to be used as fluorescent probes for multicolor live cell labeling, tracking, and imaging.
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