Department of Chemistry, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bangalore, Karnataka 560029, India.
Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695547, India.
J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Jul;617:730-744. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.03.070. Epub 2022 Mar 17.
We report a novel synthesis route for preparing carbon quantum dots (CQDs) of customized surface functionality from readily available precursors. The synthetic strategy is based on the chemical modification of paper precursors prior to preparing CQDs from them. The pre-synthesis modification of paper precursors with (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxy silane (APTES) enabled us to synthesize CQDs with amine functional groups on the surface. The silane coupling via condensation between the ethoxy group of APTES and the cellulose hydroxyl group on the paper resulted in the tethering of amine groups on the paper substrates, which are retained as surface-bound species during the synthesis of CQDs from the modified paper. Amine functionalization on the surface of CQDs helped us use them in applications such as DNA binding. We analyzed the interaction of CQDs with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA), and the results imply their propensity as an efficient biological probe. The synthetic strategy presented here can also be extended to other functional groups.
我们报告了一种从易得前体制备具有定制表面功能的碳量子点（CQDs）的新合成路线。该合成策略基于在从它们制备 CQDs 之前对纸前体进行化学修饰。通过（3-氨丙基）三乙氧基硅烷（APTES）对纸前体进行预合成修饰，使我们能够在表面上合成具有胺官能团的 CQDs。APTES 的乙氧基与纸张上纤维素羟基之间的缩合通过硅烷偶联，导致胺基团在纸张基质上键合，在从改性纸张合成 CQDs 过程中，这些胺基团保留为表面结合物种。CQDs 表面的胺官能化有助于我们将其用于 DNA 结合等应用。我们分析了 CQDs 与小牛胸腺 DNA（CT-DNA）的相互作用，结果表明它们有作为有效生物探针的倾向。这里提出的合成策略也可以扩展到其他官能团。
