1 research outputs found
General and Scalable Approach to Bright, Stable, and Functional AIE Fluorogen Colloidal Nanocrystals for in Vivo Imaging
Fluorescent
nanoparticles built from aggregation-induced emission-active organic
molecules (AIE-FONs) have emerged as powerful tools in life science
research for in vivo bioimaging of organs, biosensing, and therapy.
However, the practical use of such biotracers has been hindered owing
to the difficulty of designing bright nanoparticles with controlled
dimensions (typically below 200 nm), narrow size dispersity and long
shelf stability. In this article, we present a very simple yet effective
approach to produce monodisperse sub-200 nm AIE fluorescent organic
solid dispersions with excellent redispersibility and colloidal stability
in aqueous medium by combination of nanoprecipitation and freeze-drying
procedures. By selecting polymer additives that simultaneously act
as stabilizers, promoters of amorphousâcrystalline transition,
and functionalization/cross-linking platforms, we demonstrate a straightforward
access to stable nanocrystalline FONs that exhibit significantly higher
brightness than their amorphous precursors and constitute efficient
probes for in vivo imaging of the normal and tumor vasculature.
FONs design principles reported here are universal, applicable to
a range of fluorophores with different chemical structures and crystallization
abilities, and are suitable for high-throughput production and manufacturing
of functional imaging probes