Photo- and pH-tunable multicolor fluorescent nanoparticle-based spiropyran- and BODIPY-conjugated polymer with graphene oxide

Abstract

We report a stimuli-responsive fluorescent nanomaterial, based on graphene oxide coupled with a polymer conjugated with photochromic spiropyran (SP) dye and hydrophobic boron dipyrromethane (BODIPY) dye, for application in triggered target multicolor bioimaging. Graphene oxide (GO) was reduced by catechol-conjugated polymers under mildly alkaline conditions, which enabled to formation of functionalized multicolor graphene nanoparticles that can be induced by irradiation with UV light and by changing the pH from acidic to neutral. Investigation of these nanoparticles by using AFM, fluorescence emission, and in vitro cell and in vivo imaging revealed that they show different tunable colors in bioimaging applications and, more specifically, in cancer-cell detection. The stability, biocompatibility, and quenching efficacy of this nanocomposite open a different perspective for cell imaging in different independent colors, sequentially and simultaneously.

Keywords: UV sensitive; bioimaging; dyes/pigments; nanoparticles; pH sensitive.