Facile one-pot preparation and functionalization of luminescent chitosan-poly(methacrylic acid) microspheres based on polymer-monomer pairs

In this paper, we present a facile and robust approach to synthesize multifunctional organic/inorganic composite microspheres with chitosan-poly(methacrylic acid) (CS-PMAA) shells and cadmium tellurium/iron oxide nanoparticle cores. Due to the strong electrostatic interaction between the negatively charged nanoparticles and the protonated CS polymers, the CS/nanoparticle complexes were utilized as templates for the subsequent polymerization of methacrylic acid. The resulting composite microspheres with luminescence and magnetic properties have regular morphologies and narrow size distributions. In contrast to previous reports, this route was based on a one-pot strategy without the aid of surfactants, organic solvent, or polymerizable ligands in aqueous solution. The encapsulated CdTe semiconductor nanocrystals inside the microspheres exhibited strong and stable photoluminescence properties in the pH range 5.0-11.0. When the pH was adjusted below 4, the photoluminescence decreased sharply and even quenched completely. However, the weakened fluorescence emission could be recovered to some degree upon an increase of pH above 5. Additionally, when both Fe(3)O(4) and CdTe nanoparticles were encapsulated within CS-PMAA microspheres, the magnetic content of the microspheres could be efficiently controlled by tuning the feeding molar ratio of MAA monomers and glucosamine units of CS. From the preliminary attempts, it was found that the multifunctional microspheres as imaging agents could improve the rate and extent of cellular uptake under short-term exposure to an applied magnetic field, and so exhibit a great potential as bioactive molecule carriers.