DNA–Carbon Dots Function as Fluorescent Vehicles for Drug Delivery

作者：Han Ding, Feiyue Du, Pengchang Liu, Zhijun Chen, Jiacong Shen · 发表于：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 年份：2015 · DOI：10.1021/acsami.5b00628 · 被引用次数：223 · 研究领域：Carbon and Quantum Dots Applications、Nanocluster Synthesis and Applications、Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques

Carbon dots (CDs) are a new representative in the carbon-based material family, attracting tremendous interest in a large variety of fields, including biomedicine. In this report, we described a facile and green system for synthesizing DNA-CDs using genomic DNA isolated from Escherichia coli. DNA-CDs can be purified using a simple column centrifugation-based system. During DNA-CD synthesis, ribose was collapsed, accompanied by the release of nitrogen, and several new bonds (C-OH, N-O, and N-P) were formed, while the other covalent bonds of DNA were largely maintained. The presence of abundant chemical groups, such as amino or hydroxyl groups on DNA-CDs, may facilitate their future functionalization. These highly biocompatible DNA-CDs can serve as a new type of fluorescent vehicle for cell imaging and drug delivery studies. Our research may hasten the development of CDs for prominent future biomedical applications.