Issue 34, 2022

TADF-based NIR-II semiconducting polymer dots for in vivo 3D bone imaging

Abstract

Intraoperative fluorescence imaging in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) region heralds a new era in image-guided surgery since the success in the first-in-human liver-tumor surgery guided by NIR-II fluorescence. Limited by the conventional small organic NIR dyes such as FDA-approved indocyanine green with suboptimal NIR-II fluorescence and non-targeting ability, the resulting shallow penetration depth and high false positive diagnostic values have been challenging. Described here is the design of NIR-II emissive semiconducting polymer dots (Pdots) incorporated with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) moieties to exhibit emission maxima of 1064–1100 nm and fluorescence quantum yields of 0.40–1.58% in aqueous solutions. To further understand how the TADF units affect the molecular packing and the resulting optical properties of Pdots, in-depth and thorough density-functional theory calculations were carried out to better understand the underlying mechanisms. We then applied these Pdots for in vivo 3D bone imaging in mice. This work provides a direction for future designs of NIR-II Pdots and holds promising applications for bone-related diseases.

Graphical abstract: TADF-based NIR-II semiconducting polymer dots for in vivo 3D bone imaging

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
13 Jūn. 2022
Accepted
08 Aug. 2022
First published
18 Aug. 2022
This article is Open Access

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

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 10074-10081

TADF-based NIR-II semiconducting polymer dots for in vivo 3D bone imaging

K. Hsu, S. Su, H. Lu, M. Liu, Y. J. Chang, Y. Lee, H. K. Chiang, C. Hsu, C. Lu and Y. Chan, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 10074 DOI: 10.1039/D2SC03271F

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