Green Synthesis of Red-Emitting Carbon Nanodots as a Novel “Turn-on” Nanothermometer in Living Cells

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• 作者：Dr. Chuanxi Wang ; Kaili Jiang ; Qian Wu ; Jiapeng Wu and Prof. Chi Zhang
• 刊名：Chemistry - A European Journal
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：October 4, 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：22
• 期：41
• 页码：14475-14479
• 全文大小：2334K
• ISSN：1521-3765

文摘

Temperature measurements in biology and medical diagnostics, along with sensitive temperature probing of living cells, is of great importance; however, it still faces significant challenges. Herein, a novel “turn-on” carbon-dot-based fluorescent nanothermometry device for spatially resolved temperature measurements in living cells is presented. The carbon nanodots (CNDs) are prepared by a green microwave-assisted method and exhibit red fluorescence (λ_em=615 nm) with high quantum yields (15 %). Then, an on–off fluorescent probe is prepared for detecting glutathione (GSH) based on aggregation-induced fluorescence quenching. Interestingly, the quenched fluorescence could be recovered by increasing temperature and the CNDs–GSH mixture could behave as an off–on fluorescent probe for temperature. Thus, red-emitting CNDs can be utilized for “turn-on” fluorescent nanothermometry through the fluorescence quenching and recovery processes, respectively. We employ MC3T3-E1 cells as an example model to demonstrate the red-emitting CNDs can function as “non-contact” tools for the accurate measurement of temperature and its gradient inside a living cell.