Estradiol Hemisuccinate-Modified Surface-Engineered Carbon Dots: Target-Specific Theranostic Agent

Abstract

The present work highlights design and development of noncovalently surface-modified carbon dots by 17β-estradiol hemisuccinate that selectively stains estrogen receptor (ER)-rich cancer cells as well as kill ER (+) cancer cells by target-specific delivery of the anticancer drug doxorubicin. Positively surface-charged blue-emitting and green-emitting cationic carbon dots (CCDs) were prepared. Blue-emitting cationic carbon dots (CCDb) were prepared by the thermal coupling of tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane and betaine hydrochloride, while green-emitting cationic carbon dots (CCDg) were prepared by the thermal coupling of citric acid and ehylenediamine. Negatively charged estradiol hemisuccinate (E2) was synthesized from 17β-estradiol. Both CCDb and CCDg were noncovalently coupled with E2 through electrostatic interaction to prepare CCDb-E2 and CCDg-E2 hybrids, respectively. These surface-modified carbon dots were characterized by microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. Both CCD-E2 hybrids were highly wat...