State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130012, PR China.
Department of Gastroenterology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, PR China.
Talanta. 2024 Nov 1;279:126628. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2024.126628. Epub 2024 Jul 27.
The polymer dots (Pdots) prepared by the conjugated polymer (PFO, poly (9,9-dihexylfluorene-2,7-diyl)) have high fluorescence intensity and are often used in biological fluorescence imaging. However, due to the chain defects, the PFO Pdots suffer from stability issues such as photoinactivation and photobleaching. To solve this problem, we drew inspiration from the preparation process of organic planar light-emitting devices and added an optimization processing after Pdots was prepared. We used illumination as the driving force to activate defects on its chain, and ascorbic acid as a reducing substance to restore the chain defects of the polymer to a more stable state. Through this method, we increased the fluorescence intensity by nearly 1.9 times, and significantly improving their long and short-term stability. In addition, it ensures other properties remain unchanged. This optimization scheme is also fully compatible with the entire biological imaging process, ensuring that other important properties such as cytotoxicity do not undergo unnecessary changes. Furthermore, we conducted material characterization and theoretical simulation, revealing that the optimization scheme mainly serves to repair C-9 alkyl defects on the polyfluorene unit. This study has improved and enhanced the fluorescence performance of PFO Pdots, and also provides a way to optimize the treatment of other similar conjugated polymer material systems.
聚合物点（Pdots）由共轭聚合物（PFO，聚（9,9-二己基芴-2,7-二基））制备，具有高荧光强度，常用于生物荧光成像。然而，由于链缺陷，PFO Pdots 存在稳定性问题，如光失活和光漂白。为了解决这个问题，我们从有机平面发光器件的制备过程中获得灵感，并在 Pdots 制备后进行了优化处理。我们利用光照作为驱动力来激活其链上的缺陷，并用抗坏血酸作为还原物质将聚合物的链缺陷恢复到更稳定的状态。通过这种方法，我们将荧光强度提高了近 1.9 倍，显著提高了它们的长期和短期稳定性。此外，它确保其他性质保持不变。这种优化方案也完全兼容整个生物成像过程，确保细胞毒性等其他重要性质不会发生不必要的变化。此外，我们进行了材料表征和理论模拟，揭示了优化方案主要用于修复聚芴单元上的 C-9 烷基缺陷。本研究改进和增强了 PFO Pdots 的荧光性能，也为优化处理其他类似共轭聚合物材料体系提供了一种方法。
