Abstract
In the twenty-first century, nanotechnology has become cutting-edge technology. It is interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary, covering numerous fields such as medicine, engineering, biology, physics, material sciences, and chemistry. The present work aims to cover the optical properties, method of preparations, surface modifications, bio-conjugation, characterization, stability, and cytotoxicity of quantum dots (QDs). Articles were reviewed in English literature reporting the pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical aspects of QDs which were indexed in Scopus, web of science, google scholar and PubMed without applying the year of publication criterion. One significant value of utilizing nanotechnology is that one can alter and control the properties in a genuinely unsurprising way to address explicit applications' issues. In science and biomedicine, the usage of functional nanomaterials has been broadly investigated and has become one of the quick-moving and stimulating research directions. Different types of nanomaterial (silicon nanowires, QDs, carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles of gold/silver) were extensively utilized for biological purposes. Nanomedicine shows numerous advantages in the natural characteristics of targeted drug delivery and therapeutics. For instance, protection of drugs against degradation, improvement in the drug's stability, prolonged circulation time, deceased side effects, and enhanced distribution in tissues. The present review article deals with the quantum dots, their optical properties, method of preparations, surface modifications, bio-conjugation, characterization, stability, and cytotoxicity of quantum dots. The review also discusses various biomedical applications of QDs. The QDs-based bio-nanotechnology will always be in the growing list of unique applications, with progress being made in specialized nanoparticle development, the detection of elegant conjugation methods, and the discovery of new targeting ligands.
Highlights
In 1981, Ekimov and Onushenko described the Quantum dots (QDs), called nanoscale semiconductor crystals [1]
The cores and QDs targeting are protected by surface modification, and such changes significantly improve QDs sizes [7]
Articles were reviewed in English literature reporting the pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical aspects of QDs which were indexed in Scopus, web of science, google scholar and PubMed without applying the year of publication criterion
Summary
In 1981, Ekimov and Onushenko described the Quantum dots (QDs), called nanoscale semiconductor crystals [1]. QDs have a narrow emission peak and broader excitation spectra, whereas sharp emission peaks are depicted by organic dyes and narrow absorption spectrum observed with organic fluorophores. QDs can feasibly be excited, and concurrently several targets tracked in vivo with the application of various probes as permitted by the multi-color QDs. With low background interference, high signal intensity depicts by the QDs conjugates due to sharp emission spectra and large Stokes Shift. QDs have expanded consideration because of their exceptional optical properties compared to traditional fluorescent dyes [58,59,60]. Electronic and unique optical properties in QDs are due to quantum confinement effects offering various benefits on current fluorophores, like lanthanide chelates, fluorescent proteins, and organic dyes. The multi-color QDs probes can be utilized at the same time, as shown in fig. 3 [61]
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