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Polyfluorene Nanoparticles Coated with Folate‐Functionalized Triblock Copolymer: Effective Agents for Targeted Cell Imaging
Author(s) -
Liu Li,
Patra Abhijit,
Scherf Ullrich,
Kissel Thomas
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.201200144
Subject(s) - polyfluorene , miniemulsion , folate receptor , conjugated system , copolymer , nanoparticle , cationic polymerization , fluorescence , fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy , chemistry , biophysics , polymer , flow cytometry , materials science , nanotechnology , polymer chemistry , cancer cell , organic chemistry , cancer , polymerization , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
An ultra‐bright fluorescence probe comprising conjugated polymer nanoparticles is developed for biological imaging. Highly blue fluorescent polyfluorene nanoparticles (PF‐NPs) stabilized by sodium dodecylsulfate with an average diameter of 100 nm are prepared by a miniemulsion technique. A folate‐conjugated cationic triblock copolymer is employed to coat negatively charged PF‐NPs via electrostatic interaction for specific cell imaging of folate receptor over‐expressing cancer cells. The coated PF‐NPs show a similar size and morphology to the pristine PF‐NPs, while the fluorescence intensity is enhanced. Such surface‐functionalized PF‐NPs are demonstrated to be suitable probes for efficient cell imaging of folate receptor over‐expressing KB cells by CLSM and flow cytometry.