Search results for "Fluorescence"

Ultrafast spectroscopic investigation on fluorescent carbon nanodots: the role of passivation.

2019

Disentangling the respective roles of the surface and core structures in the photocycle of carbon nanodots is a critical open problem in carbon nanoscience. While the need of passivating carbon dot surfaces to obtain efficiently emitting nanoparticles is very well-known in the literature, it is unclear if passivation introduces entirely new surface emitting states, or if it stabilizes existing states making them fluorescent. In this multi-technique femtosecond spectroscopy study, the relaxation dynamics of non-luminescent (non-passivated) carbon dots are directly compared with their luminescent (passivated) counterparts. Non-passivated dots are found to host emissive states, albeit very sho…

Amphiphilic polyaspartamide copolymer-based micelles for rivastigmine delivery to neuronal cells

2012

A novel polysorbate-80 (PS(80))-attached amphiphilic copolymer comprising a hydrophilic α,β-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-D,L-aspartamide (PHEA) backbone and hydrophobic squalenyl-C(17) (Sq(17)) portions was synthesized and characterized; the formation of polymeric micelles was also evaluated. Rivastigmine free-base (Riv), a hydrophobic drug employed to treat Alzheimer's disease, was chosen as model drug to investigate micelle's ability to incorporate hydrophobic molecules and target them to neuronal cells. Micelle formation was studied through analyses including fluorescence spectroscopy and 2D (1)H-NMR NOESY experiments. Finally, the capacity of Riv-loaded micelles, versus free drug, to penetrat…

Insight into the defect-molecule interaction through the molecular-like photoluminescence of SiO2 nanoparticles

2016

Luminescence properties due to surface defects in SiO2 are the main keystone with particles that have nanoscale dimensions, thus motivating their investigation for many emission related applications in the last few decades. A critical issue is the role played by the atmosphere that, by quenching mechanisms, weakens both the efficiency and stability of the defects. A deep knowledge of these factors is mandatory in order to properly limit any detrimental effects and, ultimately, to offer new advantageous possibilities for their exploitation. Up to now, quenching effects have been interpreted as general defect conversion processes due to the difficulty in disentangling the emission kinetics by…

2015

Two novel charged organic thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters, 1 and 2, have been synthesized. Their TADF behavior is well-supported by the multiexponential decay of their emission (nanosecond and microsecond components) and the oxygen dependence of the photoluminescence quantum yields. Spin-coated electroluminescent devices have been fabricated to make light-emitting electrochemical cells (LEECs) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The first example of a non-doped charged small organic molecule LEEC is reported and exhibited an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 0.39% using 2. With a multilayer architecture, a solution-processed OLED device using neat 2 as the…

Development of a three-dimensional cell culture system based on microfluidics for nuclear magnetic resonance and optical monitoring

2014

A new microfluidic cell culture device compatible with real-time nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is presented here. The intended application is the long-term monitoring of 3D cell cultures by several techniques. The system has been designed to fit inside commercially available NMR equipment to obtain maximum readout resolution when working with small samples. Moreover, the microfluidic device integrates a fibre-optic-based sensor to monitor parameters such as oxygen, pH, or temperature during NMR monitoring, and it also allows the use of optical microscopy techniques such as confocal fluorescence microscopy. This manuscript reports the initial trials culturing neurospheres inside the micro…

Hepatocyte-targeted fluorescent nanoparticles based on a polyaspartamide for potential theranostic applications

2015

Abstract Here, the synthesis of a galactosylated amphiphilic copolymer bearing rhodamine (RhB) moieties and its use for the preparation of polymeric fluorescent nanoparticles for potential applications in therapy and diagnosis are described. To do this, firstly, a fluorescent derivative of α,β-poly( N -2-hydroxyethyl)- d , l -aspartamide (PHEA) was synthesized by chemical reaction with RhB, and with polylactic acid (PLA), to obtain PHEA-RhB-PLA. Then, the derivatization of PHEA-RhB-PLA with GAL-PEG-NH 2 allows obtaining PHEA-RhB-PLA-PEG-GAL copolymer, with derivatization degrees in -PLA and -PEG-GAL equal to 1.9 mol% and 4.5 mol%, respectively. Starting from this copolymer, liver-targeted f…

Temperature Sensing in Cells Using Polymeric Upconversion Nanocapsules

2020

Monitoring local temperature inside cells is crucial when interpreting biological activities as enhanced cellular metabolism leads to higher heat production and is commonly correlated with the presence of diseases such as cancer. In this study, we report on polymeric upconversion nanocapsules for potential use as local nanothermometers in cells by exploiting the temperature dependence of the triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion phenomenon. Nanocapsules synthesized by the miniemulsion solvent evaporation technique are composed of a polymer shell and a liquid core of rice bran oil, hosting triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion active dyes as sensitizer and emitter molecules. The sens…

In vitrouptake of lysozyme-loaded liposomes coated with chitosan biopolymer as model immunoadjuvants

2009

Chitosan binds to negatively charged soy lecithin liposomes by an electrostatic interaction driven by its cationic amino group. This interaction allows developing stable coated vesicles suitable as a targeted carrier and controlled release system for drugs and vaccines. In this work, we studied the effect of chitosan-coated liposomes on the uptake and antigen presentation of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEL) in Peyer's patches peritoneal macrophages isolated from mice. Chitosan-coated liposomes were characterized according to size, zeta potential, and antigen-loading and release properties. Results showed an increase in the positive net charge and size of the liposomes as the concentration of ch…

Insights into the effect of the spacer on the properties of imidazolium based AIE luminogens

2021

Abstract With the aim to obtain organic salts with potential applications in high performance molecular electronics, we combined properties of π-conjugated spacers, like 1,4-diethynylbenzene and 1,6-diethynylpyrene, with the ones of both imidazole and imidazolium units. Physico-chemical properties of obtained fluorescent organic salts were investigated performing thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and cyclic voltammetry measurements (CV). Photophysical behavior of the salts was analyzed in conventional solvents and ionic liquids, by UV–vis and fluorescence investigation. Solution phase aggregation study revealed that these salts self-assemble in conve…

Novel biosensoric devices based on molecular protein hetero-multilayer films

1997

We have developed a novel concept for the modification of technical surfaces with molecularly well-organized layers of bioorganic components. A molecular construction set has been used to implement this concept which is based on molecularly stratified polyelectrolyte films as a structure decoupling protein layers from solid substrates. Utilizing this technology, one can start from a number of different substrates to obtain the same surface structures, on which protein hetero-multilayer films can be prepared to functionalize the interface for (potentially very different) purposes. We have demonstrated the viability of this concept by constructing a biosensor surface that was characterized by…