We report a novel multi-modal biodegradable photoluminescent comacromer [poly(propylene fumarate)-PEG-glycine] (PLM) having excitation-dependent fluorescence (EDF) for biomedical applications. The photoluminescence of the synthesized PLM in aqueous and solid state condition, fluorescence life time and photo stability were evaluated. Hydrogels and nanogels were prepared from the PLM by cross linking with acrylic acid. Nanogels exhibited spherical morphology with a particle size of 100 nm as evaluated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In vitro cytotoxic and hemolytic studies revealed cytocompatibility. Furthermore, cellular imaging of nanogels on L929 fibroblast and Hela cell lines revealed EDF characteristics. We hypothesize that the EDF characteristics of the synthesized PLM may be attributed to the presence of n-π* interactions of the hydroxyl oxygen atoms of PEG with carbonyl groups of the ester linkages. Taken together, our results indicate that the synthesized PEG-based comacromer can serve as biocompatible fluorophores for various biomedical applications. More importantly, the facile way of synthesizing fluorescent polymers based on PEG with EDF characteristics demonstrated in this work can pave the way for developing more novel biocompatible fluorophores with wide range of biomedical applications.
Keywords: Bioimaging; Excitation dependent fluorophores; PEG based comacromers.
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