Microwave-assisted polyol synthesis of carbon nitride dots from folic acid for cell imaging

Abstract

Weiwei Guan,1,* Wei Gu,2,* Ling Ye,2 Chenyang Guo,1 Su Su,1 Pinxiang Xu,1,3 Ming Xue1,3 1Department of Pharmacology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Chemical Biology, School of Chemical Biology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 3Beijing Laboratory for Biomedical Detection Technology and Instrument, Beijing, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: A green, one-step microwave-assisted polyol synthesis was employed to prepare blue luminescent carbon nitride dots (CNDs) using folic acid molecules as both carbon and nitrogen sources. The as-prepared CNDs had an average size of around 4.51 nm and could be well dispersed in water. Under excitation at 360 nm, the CNDs exhibited a strong blue luminescence and the quantum yield was estimated to be 18.9%, which is greater than that of other reported CNDs. Moreover, the CNDs showed low cytotoxicity and could efficiently label C6 glioma cells, demonstrating their potential in cell imaging. Keywords: carbon nitride dots (CNDs), folic acid, photoluminescence, cell imaging