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Label-free chlorine and nitrogen-doped fluorescent carbon dots for target imaging of lysosomes in living cells

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Abstract

Lysosomes with a single-layered membrane structure are mainly involved in the scavenging of foreign substances and play an important role in maintaining normal physiological functions of living cells. In this work, near-neutrally charged fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) were prepared with lipophilicity through a facile one-pot hydrothermal carbonization of chloranil and triethylenetetramine at 160 °C for 3 h. The as-obtained CDs are proved to have good photostability, low cost, and excellent biocompatibility. Importantly, the as-prepared CDs with high quantum yield of 30.8% show excitation-dependent emission with great stability, and thus, they can be well used for the long-term target imaging of lysosomes in living cells without further modification. Meanwhile, the CDs can quickly enter into the lysosomes within 30 min, and the green fluorescence (FL) of CDs reaches the plateau when incubated for 60 min. By comparing the fluorescent intensity, the information about distribution and amount of lysosomes in different cells can be obtained. The proposed CD-based strategy demonstrates great promise for label-free target imaging of lysosomes in living cells.

The near-neutral carbon dots (CDs) with lipophilicity are used as label-free fluorescent nanoprobes for the long-term imaging of lysosomes in living cells.

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Funding

We are grateful for the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21788102, 21777041, 21974046, 21977031), the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (Grant Nos. 17520750100, 19391901700, 19520744000, 19ZR1472300), the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (2018ZX10302205), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (222201714008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry, Joint International Laboratory for Precision Chemistry, Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology & Dynamic Chemistry, and School of Chemistry & Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, People’s Republic of China

    Shuai Chang, Bin Bin Chen, Jian Lv, Essy Kouadio Fodjo, Ruo Can Qian & Da Wei Li

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  1. Shuai Chang
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  2. Bin Bin Chen
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Correspondence to Ruo Can Qian or Da Wei Li.

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Chang, S., Chen, B.B., Lv, J. et al. Label-free chlorine and nitrogen-doped fluorescent carbon dots for target imaging of lysosomes in living cells. Microchim Acta 187, 435 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-020-04412-6

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