Abstract
In this work, a novel and stable zwitterionic polymer (TPE-CB PUs) was prepared to realize a cellular imaging system. TPE was conjugated into the backbone of zwitterionic polyurethane, which could be well dispersed in aqueous solution and emitted strong blue fluorescence because the TPE segment was aggregated in the core of TPE-CB PUs micelles. More importantly, the TPE-CB PUs micelles showed significant stability in a large pH window and with different storage times. In addition, the micelles exhibited low cytotoxicity in HeLa cells and mainly distributed in the cytoplasm after being incubated with cells. The outstanding properties of TPE-CB PUs combining the merits of AIE and a zwitterionic segment highlight its potential for use as a cell imaging material with remarkable capability.
Highlights
With the development of uorescence microscopy techniques, cell imaging has been widely used to study cell biology and biological systems.[1,2,3] Until now, many kinds of uorescent probes including organic, inorganic or organic–inorganic hybrid materials have been applied in bio-sensing and cell imaging.[4,5,6,7] Most of the conventional organic dyes are aromatic compounds and aromatic group stacking may lead to aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effects,[8] which could impair the brightness and sensitivity in biological applications
TPE was conjugated into the backbone of zwitterionic polyurethane, which could be well dispersed in aqueous solution and emitted strong blue fluorescence because the TPE segment was aggregated in the core of TPE-CB PUs micelles
The outstanding properties of TPE-CB PUs combining the merits of aggregationinduced emission (AIE) and a zwitterionic segment highlight its potential for use as a cell imaging material with remarkable capability
Summary
With the development of uorescence microscopy techniques, cell imaging has been widely used to study cell biology and biological systems.[1,2,3] Until now, many kinds of uorescent probes including organic, inorganic or organic–inorganic hybrid materials have been applied in bio-sensing and cell imaging.[4,5,6,7] Most of the conventional organic dyes are aromatic compounds and aromatic group stacking may lead to aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effects,[8] which could impair the brightness and sensitivity in biological applications. Tetraphenylethylene (TPE) is a typical AIE molecule.[21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28] Once aggregated, the restriction of intermolecular rotation diminishes the non-radiative decay of the excited state
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