Microwave heating of arginine yields highly fluorescent nanoparticles

作者：Philippidis Aggelos; Stefanakis Dimitrios; Anglos Demetrios^*; Ghanotakis Demetrios

来源：Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 2013, 15(1): 1414.

DOI：10.1007/s11051-012-1414-3

• Carbon nanoparticles
• Microwave synthesis
• Arginine
• Fluorescent nanoparticles
• Folate cancer targeting

Brightly fluorescent nanoparticles were produced via a single-step, single-precursor procedure based on microwave heating of an aqueous solution of the amino acid arginine. Key structural and optical properties of the resulting Arg nanoparticles, Arg-dots, are reported and discussed with emphasis on the pH dependence of their fluorescence emission. The surface of the Arg-dots was functionalised through coupling to folic acid, opening up ways for connecting fluorescent nanoparticles to cancer cells. The generality and versatility of the microwave heating procedure was further demonstrated by the synthesis of different types of carbon nanoparticles, such as CE-dots, that were produced by use of citric acid and ethanolamine as precursors and compared to the Arg-dots.

• 出版日期2013-1