2008-AdvMat-Highly Emissive Self-assembled Organic Nanopartic__ les.pdf

DOI: 10.1002/adma.200701601 Highly Emissive Self-assembled Organic Nanoparticles having Dual Color Capacity for Targeted Immunofluorescence Labeling** By Hyong-Jun Kim, Jiseok Lee, Tae-Hoon Kim, Taek Seung Lee, and Jinsang Kim* Immunofluorescence labeling is a very important analytical technique for probing the structure of living cells. Such labeling is conventionally carried out by using fluorescent organic dyes. However, some drawbacks including a limited range of light emission and particularly poor photo-stability[1] have limited the usage of organic dyes. After the introduction of semicon- ducting quantum dots[2,3] many research groups have investi- gated inorganic quantum dots[4] for immunofluorescence labeling due to their high quantum yield,[5] high molar extinc- tion coefficients, broad absorption with narrow light emission, and good photo physical and chemical stability.[6–9] Despite the promising properties of semiconducting quantum dots for immunofluorescence labeling, cyto-toxicity is a critical problem in any live-cell or animal experiments.[10,11] Alternative choices are dye-loaded latex particles and dye-doped silica colloids having improved photostability compared to conventional dye molecules. However, dye-loaded beads also have a critical limit of brightness due to self-quenching when high density of dyes present at the nanoparticle surface. In this context, developing highly emissive, biocompatible, and chemically readily modifi- able luminescent materials is strongly desired. Recently, a few papers have been published reporting con- jugated organic small molecules that showed higher quantum yield in the solid state than in solution.[12–16] In other words, self-quenching does not exist in these unique molecules. It has opened a new possibility to develop non-toxic organic nano- particles with enhanced emission for various applications in- cluding immunofluorescence labeling. The reason for the lower quantumyield in solution of someof thesemolecu