One step hydrothermal functionalization of gold nanoparticles with folic acid.

A new fundamental concept for one-step in-situ functionalization of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with folic acid using hydrothermal treatment is described. Hydrothermal treatment has been tuned to increase the light emission from the pterin moiety of folic acid molecule, while retain its structure and functionality, thus providing a simple route to multimodal tags for a variety of in vitro and in vivo biomedical applications. Successful functionalization of GNPs with the biological ligand is confirmed by specific binding with anti-folic acid antibody.

Carbon dot aggregates as an alternative to gold nanoparticles for the laser-induced opening of microchamber arrays.

Carbon dots (CDs) are usually used as an alternative to other fluorescent nanoparticles. Apart from fluorescence, CDs also have other important properties for use in composite materials, first of all their ability to absorb light energy and convert it into heat. In our work, for the first time, CDs have been proposed as an alternative to gold nanostructures for harvesting light energy, which results in the opening of polymer-based containers with biologically active compounds. In this paper, we propose a method for the synthesis of polylactic acid microchamber arrays with embedded CDs. A comparative analysis was made of the damage to microchambers functionalized with gold nanorods and with CD aggregates, depending on the wavelength and power of the laser used. The release of fluorescent cargo from the microchamber arrays with CD aggregates under laser exposure was demonstrated.

Fabrication and photoluminescent properties of Tb3+ doped carbon nanodots.

Carbon nanodots (CNDs) doped with Tb ions were synthesized using different synthetic routes: hydrothermal treatment of a solution containing carbon source (sodium dextran sulfate) and TbCl3; mixing of CNDs and TbCl3 solutions; freezing-induced loading of Tb and carbon-containing source into pores of CaCO3 microparticles followed by hydrothermal treatment. Binding of Tb ions to CNDs (Tb-CND coupling) was confirmed using size-exclusion chromatography and manifested itself through a decrease of the Tb photoluminescence lifetime signal. The shortest Tb photoluminescence lifetime was observed for samples obtained by hydrothermal synthesis of CaCO3 microparticles where Tb and carbon source were loaded into pores via the freezing-induced process. The same system displays an increase of Tb photoluminescence via energy transfer with excitation at 320-340 nm. Based on the obtained results, freezing-induced loading of cations into CNDs using porous CaCO3 microparticles as reactors is proposed to be a versatile route for the introduction of active components into CNDs. The obtained CNDs with long-lived emission may be used for time-resolved imaging and visualization in living biological samples where time-resolved and long-lived luminescence microscopy is required.