We describe a facile strategy, involving bio-inspired noncovalent molecular recognition, for fabricating water-dispersible luminescent polymer dots without any ionic groups. We first synthesized the thymine-functionalized conjugated polymers PC-T and PTC-T through conventional Suzuki coupling polymerization and copper(I)-catalyzed alkyne/azide cycloaddition (CuAAC). These multiple-hydrogen-bonding materials exhibited distinct luminescent properties in protic and aprotic solvents as well as attractive thermal properties and stabilities; most importantly, they had the ability to pair with complementary base units. Next, we prepared the hydrophilic polymer PEG-A and examined its molecular recognition with PC-T and PTC-T through DNA-like adenine–thymine (A–T) base pairing. We used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) to determine the size distributions and dispersibilities of the resulting supramolecular micelles, which appeared as polymeric dots with high signal-to-background ratios through fluorescence microscopy. The PEG shells of these micelles functioned as biomimetic surfaces that sustained the biocompatibility for practical usage. Our results suggest that supramolecular self-assembly through specific nucleobase recognition appears to be a reliable process with which to apply conjugated polymers into, for example, modern biological analysis.

中文翻译：

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具有超互补氢键的超分子两亲物的水溶性荧光纳米粒子

我们描述了一种简便的策略，该策略涉及生物启发性的非共价分子识别，用于制造没有任何离子基团的水分散性发光聚合物点。我们首先通过常规的Suzuki偶联聚合和铜（I）催化的炔烃/叠氮化物环加成（CuAAC）合成了胸腺嘧啶官能化的共轭聚合物PC-T和PTC-T。这些多氢键合材料在质子和非质子溶剂中表现出不同的发光性能，并具有吸引人的热性能和稳定性。最重要的是，它们具有与互补基础单元配对的能力。接下来，我们制备了亲水性聚合物PEG-A，并通过类似DNA的腺嘌呤-胸腺嘧啶（A-T）碱基配对检查了其在PC-T和PTC-T中的分子识别能力。我们使用透射电子显微镜（TEM）和动态光散射（DLS）来确定所得超分子胶束的尺寸分布和分散性，通过荧光显微镜显示为具有高信噪比的聚合物点。这些胶束的PEG壳起仿生表面的作用，在实际应用中可维持生物相容性。我们的结果表明，通过特异性核碱基识别的超分子自组装似乎是将共轭聚合物应用于例如现代生物学分析的可靠过程。这些胶束的PEG壳起仿生表面的作用，在实际应用中可维持生物相容性。我们的结果表明，通过特异性核碱基识别的超分子自组装似乎是将共轭聚合物应用于例如现代生物学分析的可靠过程。这些胶束的PEG壳起仿生表面的作用，在实际应用中可维持生物相容性。我们的结果表明，通过特异性核碱基识别的超分子自组装似乎是将共轭聚合物应用于例如现代生物学分析的可靠过程。