Color-Tunable Amphiphilic Segmented π-Conjugated Polymer Nano-Assemblies and Their Bioimaging in Cancer Cells

Abstract

We report a unique color tunable amphiphilic segmented π-conjugated polymer design and their π-stack driven diverse self-assembled nanostructures and demonstrate their application as a new classes of aqueous luminescent nanoparticle probes for bioimaging in cervical and breast cancer cells. Oligo-phenylenevinylene (OPV) was employed as rigid luminescent π-core and oligo-ethyleneoxy chains were used as flexible spacers to construct new amphiphilic segmented π-conjugated polymers by Witting–Horner polymerization route. The rigidity of the π-core was varied using tricyclodecanemethyleneoxy, 2-ethylhexyloxy or methoxy pendants and appropriate π-core geometry was optimized to achieve maximum aromatic π-stacking interactions. Solvent-induced chain aggregation of the polymers exhibited a morphological transition from one-dimensional helical nanofibrous to three-dimensional spherical nanoassemblies in good/bad solvent combinations. This morphological transformation was accompanied by the fluorescence color change...