Poly(ε-caprolactone) modified organic dyes nanoparticles for noninvasive long term fluorescence imaging

Abstract

Application of organic dyes is limited in biomedical fields due to the rapid self-quenching, poor stability and water solubility. In this work, polymer modified organic dyes is developed through the dyes initiating polymerization. The polymer length is studied by tuning the amount of monomer. With an optimal molecule weight of the polymer, the π-π stacking from π-conjugated organic fluorescent dyes and fluorescence quenching are inhibited, resulting in an enhancement of fluorescence intensity and photostability. Nanoparticles are further fabricated to be used for cell uptake based on the optimized organic dyes. Then, long term cellular fluorescence imaging is realized. This work highlights the potential of polymer modification to improve the performance of organic dyes and expand their applications.

Keywords: Fluorescence; Noninvasive long term imaging; Organic dyes; Polymer modification.