Yellow Fluorescent Semiconducting Polymer Dots with High Brightness, Small Size, and Narrow Emission for Biological Applications

Abstract

Cross-linked polymer dots with intense and narrow yellow emission were designed using boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) polymer as the acceptor and poly[9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl-co-1,4-benzo-{2,1′-3}-thiadiazole] (PFBT) polymer as the donor. The emission fwhm’s of the polymer dots (Pdots) were 37 nm. CL-BODIPY 565 Pdots were about 5 times brighter than commercial quantum dots (Qdots) 565 under identical experimental conditions. Specific cellular targeting indicated that the small, bright, and narrow emissive CL-BODIPY 565 Pdots are promising probes for biological applications.

Recent Advances in the Development of Highly Luminescent Semiconducting Polymer Dots and Nanoparticles for Biological Imaging and Medicine

“…Using a polymer cross-linking approach we reported previously, 88 we also developed a yellow BODIPY565 Pdot, which exhibited a narrow fwhm of only 37 nm and a small Pdot size of 12 nm in diameter. 25 Similar to our other BODIPY-based Pdots, 21 this yellow BODIPY565 Pdot also possessed high brightness and high photostability when compared with the commercial Qdot565.…”

“…87 The covalent incorporation of BODIPY into the semiconducting polymer chain enabled us to design and create a comprehensive series of Pdots with emission spanning the visible to NIR region. 21,23,25 …”

Lanthanide‐Coordinated Semiconducting Polymer Dots Used for Flow Cytometry and Mass Cytometry

“…Furthermore, we can adjust the fluorescence color by using different Pdots synthesized with carboxyl-functional groups. [18b,19] Also, by changing the lanthanide salt, different Ln atoms can be coordinated into Pdots. Combining these two features, we potentially can create a series of dual-functionality probes for both flow and mass cytometry.…”

Copper(ii)-doped semiconducting polymer dots for nitroxyl imaging in live cells

“…We finally note that the surface of Pdots are decorated with carboxyl groups, which are amenable to bioconjugation with specific tags that allow the Pdots to be used for targeted labelling and imaging. 39, 40 …”