科研之友
微信
新浪微博
Facebook
分享链接
摘要
The development of fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) based on aggregation induced emission (AIE) dyes has attracted significant research interest in recent years. In this work, a novel one-pot strategy for the fabrication of AIE-based FONs was developed via a combination of RAFT polymerization and enzymatic transesterification for the first time. During this procedure, a hydrophobic tetraphenylethene-functionalized AIE dye (denoted as TPEOH) with a hydroxyl end functional group and a hydrophilic polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether (mPEG-OH, M-n = 350) were simultaneously attached onto the methacrylate monomer via enzymatic transesterification. The amphiphilic copolymer formed after RAFT polymerization of the functionalized methacrylate monomers tended to self-assemble into FONs with the hydrophobic AIE core covered by a hydrophilic PEG shell. The molar fractions of TPE and PEG in the polymer were about 30.5% and 69.5%, respectively, while M-n was 4700 g mol(-1) with a narrow polydispersity index (PDI) (similar to 1.30). The obtained amphiphilic polymer nanoparticles (denoted as TPE-PEG) demonstrated good fluorescence performance and excellent dispersibility in aqueous solution. More importantly, these FONs possessed a spherical morphology with a uniform size (about 200 nm) and excellent biocompatibility, making them promising for bioimaging applications.
