Fluorescent non-conjugated polymer dots for targeted cell imaging

Abstract

Through the chemical crosslinking of the sub-fluorophore, linear non-conjugated polymers can possess strong photoluminescence (PL), which is a very important fluorescence behavior and the non-conjugated polymer dots (PDs) are efficient bio-fluorophores for bio-based applications. Herein, the new type of non-conjugated polyethyleneimine (PEI) PDs was further modified by targeting molecules (folic acid) for a new generation of bio-fluorophores. The free folic acid can quench the PL of PDs by energy transfer, while the conjugated folic acid@PDs (FA@PDs) can still maintain their PL properties to a certain degree. The FA@PDs also possess lower toxicity compared with free PDs, which is possibly due to blocking of the amino groups. Moreover, we investigated the targeted bioimaging applications of the FA@PDs, which gave a very important direction for application of these types of materials.