General and Scalable Approach to Bright, Stable, and Functional AIE Fluorogen Colloidal Nanocrystals for in Vivo Imaging

• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b07859
• Publication Date: 2018-07-06T13:05:44Z
• Authors: Xibo Yan; Maxime Remond; Zheng Zheng; Elsa Hoibian; Christophe Soulage; Stéphane Chambert; Chantal Andraud; Boudewijn Van der...; François Ganachaud; Yann Bretonnière; Julien Bernard
• Keywords: [CHIM.INOR] Chemical Sciences/Inorganic chemistry; [CHIM.MATE] Chemical Sciences/Material chemistry; aggregation-induced emission; [CHIM.ORGA]Chemical Sciences/Organic chemistry; Polymers; [CHIM.CATA] Chemical Sciences/Catalysis; [CHIM.CATA]Chemical Sciences/Catalysis; [CHIM.MATE]Chemical Sciences/Material chemistry; 02 engineering and technology; [CHIM.INOR]Chemical Sciences/Inorganic chemistry; 540; [CHIM.ORGA] Chemical Sciences/Organic chemistry; 01 natural sciences; 543; 0104 chemical sciences; organic nanocrystals; nanoprecipitation; Ouzo domain; Nanoparticles; in vivo imaging; 0210 nano-technology; Fluorescent Dyes

Fluorescent nanoparticles built from aggregation-induced emission-active organic molecules (AIE-FONs) have emerged as powerful tools in life science research for vivo bioimaging of organs, biosensing, and therapy. However, the practical use such biotracers has been hindered owing to difficulty designing bright with controlled dimensions (typically below 200 nm), narrow size dispersity long shelf stability. In this article, we present a very simple yet effective approach produce monodisperse sub-200 nm AIE fluorescent solid dispersions excellent redispersibility colloidal stability aqueous medium by combination nanoprecipitation freeze-drying procedures. By selecting polymer additives that simultaneously act stabilizers, promoters amorphous–crystalline transition, functionalization/cross-linking platforms, demonstrate straightforward access stable nanocrystalline FONs exhibit significantly higher brightness than their amorphous precursors constitute efficient probes imaging normal tumor vasculature. design principles reported here are universal, applicable range fluorophores different chemical structures crystallization abilities, suitable high-throughput production manufacturing functional probes.