Issue 3, 2015

Fluorescent/phosphorescent dual-emissive conjugated polymer dots for hypoxia bioimaging

Abstract

A kind of fluorescent/phosphorescent dual-emissive conjugated polyelectrolyte has been prepared by introducing phosphorescent platinum(II) porphyrin (O2-sensitive) into a fluorene-based conjugated polyelectrolyte (O2-insensitive), which can form ultrasmall conjugated polymer dots (FP-Pdots) in the phosphate buffer solution (PBS) via self-assembly caused by their amphiphilic structures with hydrophobic backbones and hydrophilic side chains. These FP-Pdots can exhibit an excellent ratiometric luminescence response to O2 content with high reliability and full reversibility for measuring oxygen levels, and the excellent intracellular ratiometric O2 sensing properties of the FP-Pdots nanoprobe have also been confirmed by the evident change in the Ired/Iblue ratio values in living cells cultured at different O2 concentrations. To confirm the reliability of the O2 sensing measurements of the FP-Pdots nanoprobe, O2 quenching experiments based on lifetime measurements of phosphorescence from Pt(II) porphyrin moieties have also been carried out. Utilizing the sensitivity of the long phosphorescence lifetime from Pt(II) porphyrins to oxygen, the FP-Pdots have been successfully applied in time-resolved luminescence imaging of intracellular O2 levels, including photoluminescence lifetime imaging and time-gated luminescence imaging, which will evidently improve the sensing sensitivity and reliability. Finally, in vivo oxygen sensing experiments were successfully performed by luminescence imaging of tumor hypoxia in nude mice.

Graphical abstract: Fluorescent/phosphorescent dual-emissive conjugated polymer dots for hypoxia bioimaging

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
06 Oct 2014
Accepted
10 Jan 2015
First published
12 Jan 2015
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 1825-1831

Fluorescent/phosphorescent dual-emissive conjugated polymer dots for hypoxia bioimaging

Q. Zhao, X. Zhou, T. Cao, K. Y. Zhang, L. Yang, S. Liu, H. Liang, H. Yang, F. Li and W. Huang, Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 1825 DOI: 10.1039/C4SC03062A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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