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A New Thermo‐, pH‐ and CO 2 ‐Responsive Fluorescent Four‐Arm Star Polymer with Aggregation‐Induced Emission for Long‐Term Cellular Tracing
Author(s) -
Guan Xiaolin,
Meng Li,
Jin Qijun,
Lu Baocui,
Chen Yanbin,
Li Zhifei,
Wang Lin,
Lai Shoujun,
Lei Ziqiang
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201700553
Subject(s) - fluorescence , hela , polymer , materials science , polymerization , atom transfer radical polymerization , acrylamide , biophysics , photochemistry , polymer chemistry , cell , chemistry , monomer , biochemistry , biology , physics , quantum mechanics , composite material
Development of fluorescent bioprobes for long‐term cell tracking is of great importance to monitor the processes of genesis, development, invasion, and metastasis of cancerous cells. Herein, a new multistimuli‐responsive star polymer of tetraphenylethene‐graft‐tetra‐poly[ N ‐[2‐(diethylamino)‐ethyl]acrylamide] (TPE‐tetraPDEAEAM) with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) effect for tracing live cells over a long period of time is synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization using TPE derivative as initiator. TPE‐tetraPDEAEAM gives both lower critical solution temperature and fluorescence responses to the stimulus of the temperature, pH, and CO 2 by combining the thermoresponsive and pH/CO 2 ‐responsive moieties of the diethylamino and acrylamide groups. The AIE‐active TPE‐tetraPDEAEAM has the advantages of very low cytotoxicity, efficient cellular uptake, and strong fluorescence of polymer‐treated cells, which ensure its good performance in long‐term cell tracing. This facile tracking of HeLa cells for as long as nine passages exhibits superior performance in long‐term cell tracing as compared with some commercial cell tracing probes.