Carbon-Dot-Based Dual-Emission Nanohybrid Produces a Ratlometric Fluorescent Sensor for In Vivo Imaging of Cellular Copper Ions

摘要

The integration of highly specific recognition elements, such as organic molecules or biomolecules, into inorganic nano-materials of unique electronic and optical characteristics, such as gold nanostructures, carbon nanotubes, or semiconductor nanoparticles, has made possible many new strategies for bioanalysis and bioimaging techniques. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have attracted tremendous attention because of their interesting properties, such as non-blinking, water solubility, and nontoxicity according to currently available cytotoxic and in vivo toxic evaluation results. However, exploration of CQDs as fluorescent chemosensors to monitor and image biological processes still remains in the early stage. Herein, we first design a ratiometric CQD-based fluorescent probe for intracellular sensing and imaging of Cu~(2+) ions with high selectivity, sensitivity, and photostability.