Ultralong Phosphorescence of Water-Soluble Organic Nanoparticles for In Vivo Afterglow Imaging
Author
Zhen, Xu
Tao, Ye
An, Zhongfu
Chen, Peng
Xu, Chenjie
Chen, Runfeng
Huang, Wei
Pu, Kanyi
Date of Issue
2017School
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Version
Accepted version
Abstract
Afterglow or persistent luminescence eliminates the need for light excitation and thus circumvents the issue of autofluorescence, holding promise for molecular imaging. However, current persistent luminescence agents are rare and limited to inorganic nanoparticles. This study reports the design principle, synthesis, and proof-of-concept application of organic semiconducting nanoparticles (OSNs) with ultralong phosphorescence for in vivo afterglow imaging. The design principle leverages the formation of aggregates through a top-down nanoparticle formulation to greatly stabilize the triplet excited states of a phosphorescent molecule. This prolongs the particle luminesce to the timescale that can be detected by the commercial whole-animal imaging system after removal of external light source. Such ultralong phosphorescent of OSNs is inert to oxygen and can be repeatedly activated, permitting imaging of lymph nodes in living mice with a high signal-to-noise ratio. This study not only introduces the first category of water-soluble ultralong phosphorescence organic nanoparticles but also reveals a universal design principle to prolong the lifetime of phosphorescent molecules to the level that can be effective for molecular imaging.
Subject
Afterglow
Lymph Node Imaging
Lymph Node Imaging
Type
Journal Article
Series/Journal Title
Advanced Materials
Rights
© 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. This is the author created version of a work that has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication by Advanced Materials, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. It incorporates referee’s comments but changes resulting from the publishing process, such as copyediting, structural formatting, may not be reflected in this document. The published version is available at: [http://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201606665].
Collections
http://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201606665
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