Journal
NANOSCALE
Volume 4, Issue 18, Pages 5694-5702Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c2nr31267k
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Funding
- Institute of Materials Research and Engineering [IMRE/11-1C0213]
- Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore
- Singapore National Research Foundation [R279-000-323-281]
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A novel bioimaging probe based on a conjugated polymer, poly(9,9-dihexylfluorene-alt-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole) (PFBD), is demonstrated. Transfer of the hydrophobic polymer into water using a short chain poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) resulted in conjugated polymer nanoparticles (PEG-PFBD) with a fluorescence quantum yield of 46%. The PEG-PFBD nanoparticles possessed several desirable structural and photophysical properties, such as colloidal stability in a broad range of pH values, sub-20 nm particle size, the presence of surface chemical functionality, as well as desirable excitation and emission spectra, for bioimaging applications. PEG-PFBD nanoparticles were conjugated with cyclic RGDfK targeting peptide for labeling of membrane alpha(V)beta(3) integrin receptors on live HT-29 adenocarcinoma cells. Single nanoparticle microscopy revealed that the PEG-capped PFBD nanoparticles exhibit at least ten times higher emitted photon counts than single quantum dots (QD655) of comparable size. In addition, Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) of single PEG-PFBD nanoparticles revealed that the nanoparticles display a clearly resolvable single nanoparticle fluorescence lifetime.
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