Fabrication of chitosan based luminescent nanoprobe with aggregation-induced emission feature through ultrasonic treatment

Xin Hu; Shengxian Yu; Guang Yang; Wei Long; Teng Guo; Jianwen Tian; Meiying Liu; Xiancai Li; Xiaoyong Zhang; Yen Wei

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119487

Fabrication of chitosan based luminescent nanoprobe with aggregation-induced emission feature through ultrasonic treatment

Carbohydr Polym. 2022 Sep 1:291:119487. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119487. Epub 2022 May 1.

Authors

Xin Hu¹, Shengxian Yu¹, Guang Yang¹, Wei Long², Teng Guo¹, Jianwen Tian¹, Meiying Liu³, Xiancai Li⁴, Xiaoyong Zhang⁵, Yen Wei⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, PR China.
² Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 56 Yangming Road, Jiangxi, Nanchang 330006, PR China.
³ Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, PR China; Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 56 Yangming Road, Jiangxi, Nanchang 330006, PR China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, PR China. Electronic address: xcli@ncu.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang 330031, PR China. Electronic address: zhangxiaoyong@ncu.edu.cn.
⁶ Department of Chemistry and the Tsinghua Center for Frontier Polymer Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China; Department of Chemistry and Center for Nanotechnology and Institute of Biomedical Technology, Chung-Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li 32023, Taiwan. Electronic address: weiyen@tsinghua.edu.cn.

PMID: 35698360
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119487

Abstract

Chitosan is an abundant natural polysaccharide that contains a lot of amino and hydroxyl groups. It possesses great potential for biomedical applications owing to its low toxicity, biodegradability and low cost. Herein, a novel chitosan-based fluorescent copolymer (WS-CS-TPA) was designed and synthesized via nucleophilic substitution of hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene (HCCP), water-soluble chitosan (WS-CS) and an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorogen (AIEgen) triphenylamine derivative (TPA-NH₂). Under ultrasonic treatment, 1.16 g TPA-NH₂ and 1.1 g WS-CS can be conjugated by 0.7 g HCCP at room temperature. The obtained copolymer shows amphiphilic property and could assemble into nanoparticles with size about 100 nm. After self-assembly, TPA-NH₂ was aggregated in the core, thus exhibiting superb AIE feature with intense green fluorescence emission in aqueous media. On the other hand, hydrophilic WS-CS was coated on the surface of nanoparticles and endowed their high water dispersibility. Results from preliminary biological assays suggested that WS-CS-TPA can be internalized by cells and exhibits low cytotoxicity, suggesting their great potential for biological imaging and intracellular drug delivery.

Keywords: Aggregation-induced emission; Cell imaging; Chitosan; Cross-linked; Hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene.

MeSH terms

Chitosan*
Fluorescent Dyes / toxicity
Luminescence
Nanoparticles*
Polymers
Ultrasonics
Water

Substances

Fluorescent Dyes
Polymers
Water
Chitosan