Red-green-blue fluorescent hollow carbon nanoparticles isolated from chromatographic fractions for cellular imaging

Xiaojuan Gong; Qin Hu; Man Chin Paau; Yan Zhang; Shaomin Shuang; Chuan Dong; Martin M. F. Choi

doi:10.1039/C4NR01453G

Red-green-blue fluorescent hollow carbon nanoparticles isolated from chromatographic fractions for cellular imaging†

Xiaojuan Gong,‡^a Qin Hu,^b Man Chin Paau,^b Yan Zhang,^a Shaomin Shuang,^a Chuan Dong*^a and Martin M. F. Choi*^b

* Corresponding authors

^a Institute of Environmental Science, and School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
E-mail: dc@sxu.edu.cn

^b Partner State Key Laboratory of Environmental and Biological Analysis, and Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, 224 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR, China
E-mail: mfchoi@hkbu.edu.hk

Abstract

An as-synthesised hollow carbon nanoparticle (HC-NP) sample has been proved to be a relatively complex mixture, and its complexity can be reduced significantly by high-performance liquid chromatography. An unprecedented reduction in such complexity can reveal fractions of HC-NP with unique luminescence properties. While the UV-vis absorption profile for the HC-NP mixture is featureless, the HC-NP fractions do possess unique absorption bands and specific emission wavelengths. The HC-NP fractions are fully anatomised by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry, displaying their fragmentation mass ion features. The shell thickness and crystal lattices of the selected HC-NP fractions are determined as 6.13, 8.31, 2.22, and 8.66 nm, and 0.37, 0.35, 0.33, and 0.32 nm by transmission electron microscopy, respectively. The fractionated HC-NP show profound differences in emission quantum yield, allowing for brighter HC-NP to be isolated from an apparent low quantum yield mixture. Finally, red, green and blue emissive HC-NP are isolated from the as-synthesised HC-NP sample. They show good photostability and have been demonstrated to be excellent probes for cellular imaging.

$Graphical abstract: Red-green-blue fluorescent hollow carbon nanoparticles isolated from chromatographic fractions for cellular imaging$

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C4NR01453G
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 16 Mar 2014
Accepted: 17 May 2014
First published: 22 May 2014

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Nanoscale, 2014,6, 8162-8170

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Red-green-blue fluorescent hollow carbon nanoparticles isolated from chromatographic fractions for cellular imaging

X. Gong, Q. Hu, M. C. Paau, Y. Zhang, S. Shuang, C. Dong and M. M. F. Choi, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 8162 DOI: 10.1039/C4NR01453G

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Red-green-blue fluorescent hollow carbon nanoparticles isolated from chromatographic fractions for cellular imaging†

Abstract

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Red-green-blue fluorescent hollow carbon nanoparticles isolated from chromatographic fractions for cellular imaging

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