Issue 19, 2022

One-pot synthesis of robust dendritic sulfur quantum dots for two-photon fluorescence imaging and “off–on” detection of hydroxyl radicals and ascorbic acid

Abstract

The straightforward preparation of fluorescent sulfur quantum dots (SQDs) with good photostability and biocompatibility and multifunction remains a challenge. Herein, a simple method to improve the performance of SQDs is reported, that is, using hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG) as a ligand to direct the synthesis of dendritic HPG-SQD nanocomposites from cheap elemental sulfur. Thanks to the protection of HPG, the HPG-SQDs show much better biocompatibility and photostability as compared with the widely reported polyethylene glycol (PEG) ligand-capped SQDs (PEG-SQDs). In addition, the HPG-SQDs also present excellent aqueous solubility, stable fluorescence against environmental variation, good cell uptake capability, and strong single- and two-photon fluorescence. Moreover, the HPG-SQDs display sensitive and selective fluorescence “off–on” behavior to hydroxyl radicals (˙OH) and ascorbic acid (AA), respectively, and thereby hold potential as a fluorescent switch to detect ˙OH and AA. For the first time, the utilization of two-photon fluorescence of HPG-SQDs to monitor ˙OH and AA in cells is demonstrated in this study.

Graphical abstract: One-pot synthesis of robust dendritic sulfur quantum dots for two-photon fluorescence imaging and “off–on” detection of hydroxyl radicals and ascorbic acid

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
29 Jul 2022
Accepted
23 Aug 2022
First published
23 Aug 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2022,4, 4035-4040

One-pot synthesis of robust dendritic sulfur quantum dots for two-photon fluorescence imaging and “off–on” detection of hydroxyl radicals and ascorbic acid

J. Tan, Y. Song, X. Dai, G. Wang and L. Zhou, Nanoscale Adv., 2022, 4, 4035 DOI: 10.1039/D2NA00498D

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