Issue 24, 2012

One-pot synthesis of water-soluble and carboxyl-functionalized β-NaYF4:Yb,Er(Tm) upconversion nanocrystals and their application for bioimaging

Abstract

Poor water-solubility and biocompatibility are the biggest obstacles for the bioapplications of upconversion nanophosphors (UCNPs). In this work, a facile solvothermal approach was developed for the one-pot synthesis of monodisperse and water-soluble β-NaYF4 UCNPs by employing poly(acrylic acid, sodium salt) (PAAs) as the capping reagent. The as-prepared UCNPs were thoroughly characterized and a possible reaction mechanism is proposed, which indicates that PAAs plays a crucial role for the shape and phase evolution of the NaYF4 UCNPs. More importantly, each multidentate PAA can tightly bind to the UCNPs surface through multiple –COO groups, while an abundance of uncoordinated carboxyl groups on the polymer chain extend into the solution, making the UCNPs highly water-soluble. The presence of free carboxyl groups on the surfaces also facilitates the conjugation of the UCNPs with various biomolecules, which paves the way for further bio-applications. As a proof-of-concept model, transferrin was covalently linked to β-NaYF4:Yb,Er to form the transferrin–UCNPs conjugates, which have been successfully applied to the high-contrast fluorescent imaging and detection of HeLa cells. Possessing the advantages of good biocompatibility and inherent high upconversion efficiency, our directly synthesized β-NaYF4 UCNPs exhibit great potential as excellent bio-probes for in vitro or in vivo imaging, detection and diagnosis.

Graphical abstract: One-pot synthesis of water-soluble and carboxyl-functionalized β-NaYF4:Yb,Er(Tm) upconversion nanocrystals and their application for bioimaging

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Mar 2012
Accepted
24 Apr 2012
First published
25 Apr 2012

J. Mater. Chem., 2012,22, 12186-12192

One-pot synthesis of water-soluble and carboxyl-functionalized β-NaYF4:Yb,Er(Tm) upconversion nanocrystals and their application for bioimaging

Z. Wang, C. Liu, L. Chang and Z. Li, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 12186 DOI: 10.1039/C2JM31572F

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