Quantum Dots and Their Interaction with Biological Systems

Quantum dots are nanocrystals with bright and tunable fluorescence. Due to their unique property, quantum dots are sought after for their potential in several applications in biomedical sciences as well as industrial use. However, concerns regarding QDs’ toxicity toward the environment and other biological systems have been rising rapidly in the past decade. In this mini-review, we summarize the most up-to-date details regarding quantum dots’ impacts, as well as QDs’ interaction with mammalian organisms, fungal organisms, and plants at the cellular, tissue, and organismal level. We also provide details about QDs’ cellular uptake and trafficking, and QDs’ general interactions with biological structures. In this mini-review, we aim to provide a better understanding of our current standing in the research of quantum dots, point out some knowledge gaps in the field, and provide hints for potential future research.

Coordination of Quantum Dots in a Polar Solvent by Small-Molecule Imidazole Ligands

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are attractive fluorophores for bioimaging and biomedical applications because of their favorable and tunable optoelectronic properties. In this study, the native hydrophobic ligand environment of oleate-capped sphalerite CdSe/ZnS core/shell QDs was quantitatively exchanged with a set of imidazole-bearing small-molecule ligands. Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy and ¹H NMR were used to identify and quantify three different ligand exchange processes: Z-type dissociation of the Zn(oleate)₂, L-type association of the imidazole, and X-type anionic exchange of oleate with Cl^-, all of which contributed to the overall ligand exchange.

Organic/Inorganic Self-Assembled Hybrid Nano-Architectures for Cancer Therapy Applications

Since the conceptualization of nanomedicine, numerous nanostructure-mediated drug formulations have progressed into clinical trials for treating cancer. However, recent clinical trial results indicate such kind of drug formulations has a limited improvement on the antitumor efficacy. This is due to the biological barriers associated with those formulations, for example, circulation stability, extravasation efficiency in tumor, tumor penetration ability, and developed multi-drug resistance. When employing for nanomedicine formulations, pristine organic-based and inorganic-based nanostructures have their own limitations. Accordingly, organic/inorganic (O/I) hybrids have been developed to integrate the merits of both, and to minimize their intrinsic drawbacks. In this context, the recent development in O/I hybrids resulting from a self-assembly strategy will be introduced. Through such a strategy, organic and inorganic building blocks can be self-assembled via either chemical covalent bonds or physical interactions. Based on the self-assemble procedure, the hybridization of four organic building blocks including liposomes, micelles, dendrimers, and polymeric nanocapsules with five functional inorganic nanoparticles comprising gold nanostructures, magnetic nanoparticles, carbon-based materials, quantum dots, and silica nanoparticles will be highlighted. The recent progress of these O/I hybrids in advanced modalities for combating cancer, such as, therapeutic agent delivery, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, and immunotherapy will be systematically reviewed.

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of semiconductor quantum dots and their bioconjugates: materials characterization and physical insights from spectrofluorimetric detection

Colloidal semiconductor quantum dot (QD) nanocrystals have ideal fluorescence properties for bioanalysis and bioimaging, but these materials must be functionalized with an inorganic shell, organic ligand or polymer coating, and conjugated with biomolecules to be useful in such applications. Several different analytical techniques are used to characterize QDs and their multiple layers of functionalization. Here, we revisit poly(acrylamide) gel electrophoresis (PAGE), which has been scarcely used for the characterization of QDs and their bioconjugates in deference to the routine use of agarose gel electrophoresis. We implemented PAGE in a novel "stubby" capillary format with spectrofluorimetric detection, the combination of which enabled more rapid and more detailed characterization of QDs than was possible with both poly(acrylamide) and agarose slab gels. Correlations between the peak photoluminescence (PL) emission wavelength and electropherogram peaks, especially when combined with Ferguson analysis, provided new and significant insight into the key factors that determine the electrophoretic mobility of QDs, and helped to resolve heterogeneity and sub-populations in ensembles of QDs. The method was useful for characterization of the inorganic core/shell nanocrystals, their organic ligand and polymer coatings, and their final bioconjugates, the latter of which were in the form of peptide and protein conjugates. With further development and optimization, we anticipate that capillary PAGE with spectrofluorimetric detection will become a valuable addition to the toolbox of characterization techniques suitable for QDs, their bioconjugates, and other nanoparticle materials as well.

A small heterobifunctional ligand provides stable and water dispersible core-shell CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs)

We describe a simple method to prepare water dispersible core-shell CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) 1 by capping QDs with a new thiol-containing heterobifunctional dicarboxylic ligand 4 (DHLA-EDADA). This ligand, obtained on a gram scale through a few synthetic steps, provides a compact layer on the QDs, whose hydrodynamic size in H2O is 15 nm ± 3 nm. The colloidal stability is dramatically enhanced with respect to the well-known (±) α-lipoic acid (DHLA). The ligand affinity towards QDs and the water dispersibility of nanocrystals 1 are addressed by the dithiol groups of DHLA, which chelate the zinc of the shell, and by the dicarboxylic groups of the ethylenediamine-N,N-diacetic acid (EDADA) residue, respectively. The effects of pH, buffer solutions, and biological medium on the stability of QDs 1 were assessed by monitoring the photoluminescence (PL) and hydrodynamic size over time. Highly fluorescent QD dispersions, stable over extended periods of time and over broad pH ranges and buffer types, were obtained. Furthermore, we show that the DHLA-EDADA ligand 4 also endows QDs with functional groups suitable for further conjugation and for metal ion detection. As a case study to illustrate the potential of our approach, we report the preparation and characterization of a highly luminescent orange light emitting polymer-QD 1 composite film.

Optimizing the Synthesis of Core/shell Structure Au@Cu2S Nanocrystals as Contrast-enhanced for Bioimaging Detection

In this paper, we reported Au@Cu2S nanocrystals in the aqueous phase with a core/shell structure and dBSA encapsulation. The dBSA-Au@Cu2S crystals formed with an average size of approximately 9 nm. There was a strong absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) field located at 1348 nm, and they exhibited low toxicity in the in vitro tests. Furthermore, we demonstrated that dBSA-Au@Cu2S could be used for optical coherence tomography (OCT). The in vivo experimental results show that the OCT signal increased as the concentration of nanocrystals increased. In this research, we revealed that these core/shell-structured nanocrystals along with their low toxicity and excellent biocompatibility could be a valuable tool for current and future contrast-enhanced in vivo studies.

Determination of quantum yields of semiconductor nanocrystals at the single emitter level via fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

Comparing the photoluminescence (PL) properties of ensembles of nanocrystals like semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) with single particle studies is of increasing interest for many applications of these materials as reporters in bioimaging studies performed under very dilute conditions or even at the single particle level. Particularly relevant is here the PL quantum yield (ΦF), which determines the signal size together with the reporter's molar extinction coefficient and is a direct measure for nanocrystal quality, especially for the inorganic surface passivation shell and its tightness, which can be correlated also with nanocrystal stability and the possible release of heavy metal ions. Exemplarily for red and green emitting CdTe nanocrystals, we present a method for the determination of ΦF of nanoparticle dispersions at ultralow concentration compared to cuvette measurements using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), a single molecule method, and compared to molecular dyes with closely matching spectral properties and known ΦF. Our results underline the potential of this approach, provided that material-inherent limitations like ligand- and QD-specific aggregation affecting particle diffusion and QD drawbacks such as their complex and power-dependent blinking behavior are properly considered as shown here.

Application of semiconductor quantum dots in bioimaging and biosensing

In this review we present new concepts and recent progress in the application of semiconductor quantum dots (QD) as labels in two important areas of biology, bioimaging and biosensing.

Optimization of the aqueous synthesis of Cu₂S quantum dots with different surface ligands

Surface functionalization of quantum dots (QDs) is one of the most important aspects of designing and preparing the desired QDs for intended optical and biomedical applications. In this paper, we synthesized aqueous-phase Cu2S quantum dots coating by three different stabilizers, i.e. mercaptoacetic acid, mercaptopropionic acid and glutathione (GSH). Different stabilizers can influence the coordination modes between Cu(+) on the surface of Cu2S and S(2-) of the ligand. The Cu2S QDs were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and Raman spectra. Then, we performed a systematic study to evaluate the colloidal stability and in vitro toxicity of the formulations of Cu2S QDs with different stabilizers. Our results show that Cu2S QDs modified with different stabilizers have distinct functional groups on their surface and these groups make Cu2S produce different vibrations according to Raman spectra. The Cu2S-GSH exhibit the best colloidal stability in all pH buffer solutions and the lowest toxicity compare to the other two stabilizers. These properties make the Cu2S-GSH quantum dots a candidate for bioapplications in the future.

A methacrylate-based polymeric imidazole ligand yields quantum dots with low cytotoxicity and low nonspecific binding

This paper assesses the biocompatibility for fluorescence imaging of colloidal nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs) coated with a recently-developed multiply-binding methacrylate-based polymeric imidazole ligand. The QD samples were purified prior to ligand exchange via a highly repeatable gel permeation chromatography (GPC) method. A multi-well plate based protocol was used to characterize nonspecific binding and toxicity of the QDs toward human endothelial cells. Nonspecific binding in 1% fetal bovine serum was negligible compared to anionically-stabilized QD controls, and no significant toxicity was detected on 24h exposure. The nonspecific binding results were confirmed by fluorescence microscopy. This study is the first evaluation of biocompatibility in QDs initially purified by GPC and represents a scalable approach to comparison among nanocrystal-based bioimaging scaffolds.

Quantum yield regeneration: influence of neutral ligand binding on photophysical properties in colloidal core/shell quantum dots

This article describes an experiment designed to identify the role of specific molecular ligands in maintaining the high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) observed in as-synthesized CdSe/CdZnS and CdSe/CdS quantum dots (QDs). Although it has been possible for many years to prepare core/shell quantum dots with near-unity quantum yield through high-temperature colloidal synthesis, purification of such colloidal particles is frequently accompanied by a reduction in quantum yield. Here, a recently established gel permeation chromatography (GPC) technique is used to remove weakly associated ligands without a change in solvent: a decrease in ensemble QY and average PL lifetime is observed. Minor components of the initial mixture that were removed by GPC are then added separately to purified QD samples to determine whether reintroduction of these components can restore the photophysical properties of the initial sample. We show that among these putative ligands trioctylphosphine and cadmium oleate can regenerate the initial high QY of all samples, but only the "L-type" ligands (trioctyphosphine and oleylamine) can restore the QY without changing the shapes of the optical spectra. On the basis of the PL decay analysis, we confirm that quenching in GPC-purified samples and regeneration in ligand-introduced samples are associated chiefly with changes in the relative population fraction of QDs with different decay rates. The reversibility of the QY regeneration process has also been studied; the introduction and removal of trioctylphosphine and oleylamine tend to be reversible, while cadmium oleate is not. Finally, isothermal titration calorimetry has been used to study the relationship between the binding strength of the neutral ligands to the surface and photophysical property changes in QD samples to which they are added.

Preparation of multi-shell structured fluorescent composite nanoparticles for ultrasensitive human procalcitonin detection

In this paper, we reported the preparation of carboxyl functionalized quantum dots (QDs)-embedded silica nanoparticles by combining layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technique and a multi-layer protection method.

Preparation of biofunctionalized quantum dots using microfluidic chips for bioimaging

Biofunctionalized quantum dots were prepared using microfluidic chips and were used as optical probes for imaging live cells.