Biocompatible bright orange emissive carbon dots: Multifunctional nanoprobes for highly specific sensing toxic Cr(VI) ions and mitochondrial targeting cancer cell imaging

Although several luminescent-based nanostructured materials are used as cellular imaging probes, creating a biocompatible subcellular imaging probe can be challenging. Instantaneously, it is crucial and urgently needed for certain fluorescent nanoprobes to identify possibly harmful heavy metal ions....

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Main Authors: Ramar Rajamanikandan, D.S. Prabakaran, Kandasamy Sasikumar, Joo Seon Seok, Gyeongchan Lee, Heongkyu Ju
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Talanta Open
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666831924000675
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author Ramar Rajamanikandan
D.S. Prabakaran
Kandasamy Sasikumar
Joo Seon Seok
Gyeongchan Lee
Heongkyu Ju
author_facet Ramar Rajamanikandan
D.S. Prabakaran
Kandasamy Sasikumar
Joo Seon Seok
Gyeongchan Lee
Heongkyu Ju
author_sort Ramar Rajamanikandan
collection DOAJ
description Although several luminescent-based nanostructured materials are used as cellular imaging probes, creating a biocompatible subcellular imaging probe can be challenging. Instantaneously, it is crucial and urgently needed for certain fluorescent nanoprobes to identify possibly harmful heavy metal ions. We present a straightforward one-pot preparation of bright orange emissive (quantum yield approximately 16 %) Nitrogen/Sulfur co-doped carbon dots (N/S CDs) from citric acid and methylene blue as raw materials that will serve as a specific Cr(VI) ions sensor and an effective mitochondrial labeling in cancer cells. They had several benefits including low ecological impact, facile synthesis, good water solubility, photostability, and high stability. We found that N/S CDs photoluminescence (PL) could be reduced when Cr(VI) ions were present near them, and the PL reduction occurred highly sensitively to the presence of Cr(VI) compared to other metal ions including Cr(III) ions. This specific reduction of PL was due to the non-fluorescent complex formation through the inner filter effect (IFE). The established fluorescence-based sensing technique could serve for Cr(VI) ion quantification with exceptional sensing efficiency in the wide linear range of 7 to 70 μM (R2 = 0.9873), with the limit of detection of 53.5 nM. It was also revealed that the current fluorescent probe could be encouragingly utilized to quantify the concentration of Cr(VI) ions in various water specimens such as tap water. In addition, they were shown to function as a mitochondria-targeting nanoprobe in human cancer cells (ME 180 cells and Hela cells) for cell imaging. Concludingly, it was envisioned that these fluorescent nanoprobes could find a use in real-time monitoring of Cr(VI) ions in water-based ecosystems with ultrahigh sensitivity and cell image tracking via mitochondria labeling as biocompatible nanoprobes.
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spelling doaj-art-a0bd4bec8cb648919fc9b37933a4fa6a2024-12-13T11:06:06ZengElsevierTalanta Open2666-83192024-12-0110100353Biocompatible bright orange emissive carbon dots: Multifunctional nanoprobes for highly specific sensing toxic Cr(VI) ions and mitochondrial targeting cancer cell imagingRamar Rajamanikandan0D.S. Prabakaran1Kandasamy Sasikumar2Joo Seon Seok3Gyeongchan Lee4Heongkyu Ju5Department of Physics, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of Korea; Gachon Bionano Research Institute, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Biotechnology, School of Bioengineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 603203, India; Department of Radiation Oncology, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk 28644, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Physics, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of Korea; Gachon Bionano Research Institute, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Physics, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of Korea; Gachon Bionano Research Institute, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Physics, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of Korea; Gachon Bionano Research Institute, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Physics, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of Korea; Gachon Bionano Research Institute, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of Korea; Corresponding author at: Department of Physics, Gachon University, Seongnam-si 13120, Republic of Korea.Although several luminescent-based nanostructured materials are used as cellular imaging probes, creating a biocompatible subcellular imaging probe can be challenging. Instantaneously, it is crucial and urgently needed for certain fluorescent nanoprobes to identify possibly harmful heavy metal ions. We present a straightforward one-pot preparation of bright orange emissive (quantum yield approximately 16 %) Nitrogen/Sulfur co-doped carbon dots (N/S CDs) from citric acid and methylene blue as raw materials that will serve as a specific Cr(VI) ions sensor and an effective mitochondrial labeling in cancer cells. They had several benefits including low ecological impact, facile synthesis, good water solubility, photostability, and high stability. We found that N/S CDs photoluminescence (PL) could be reduced when Cr(VI) ions were present near them, and the PL reduction occurred highly sensitively to the presence of Cr(VI) compared to other metal ions including Cr(III) ions. This specific reduction of PL was due to the non-fluorescent complex formation through the inner filter effect (IFE). The established fluorescence-based sensing technique could serve for Cr(VI) ion quantification with exceptional sensing efficiency in the wide linear range of 7 to 70 μM (R2 = 0.9873), with the limit of detection of 53.5 nM. It was also revealed that the current fluorescent probe could be encouragingly utilized to quantify the concentration of Cr(VI) ions in various water specimens such as tap water. In addition, they were shown to function as a mitochondria-targeting nanoprobe in human cancer cells (ME 180 cells and Hela cells) for cell imaging. Concludingly, it was envisioned that these fluorescent nanoprobes could find a use in real-time monitoring of Cr(VI) ions in water-based ecosystems with ultrahigh sensitivity and cell image tracking via mitochondria labeling as biocompatible nanoprobes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666831924000675Hexavalent chromiumHeavy metal sensingFluorescenceOrange color emissionCarbon dotsMitochondria labeling
spellingShingle Ramar Rajamanikandan
D.S. Prabakaran
Kandasamy Sasikumar
Joo Seon Seok
Gyeongchan Lee
Heongkyu Ju
Biocompatible bright orange emissive carbon dots: Multifunctional nanoprobes for highly specific sensing toxic Cr(VI) ions and mitochondrial targeting cancer cell imaging
Talanta Open
Hexavalent chromium
Heavy metal sensing
Fluorescence
Orange color emission
Carbon dots
Mitochondria labeling
title Biocompatible bright orange emissive carbon dots: Multifunctional nanoprobes for highly specific sensing toxic Cr(VI) ions and mitochondrial targeting cancer cell imaging
title_full Biocompatible bright orange emissive carbon dots: Multifunctional nanoprobes for highly specific sensing toxic Cr(VI) ions and mitochondrial targeting cancer cell imaging
title_fullStr Biocompatible bright orange emissive carbon dots: Multifunctional nanoprobes for highly specific sensing toxic Cr(VI) ions and mitochondrial targeting cancer cell imaging
title_full_unstemmed Biocompatible bright orange emissive carbon dots: Multifunctional nanoprobes for highly specific sensing toxic Cr(VI) ions and mitochondrial targeting cancer cell imaging
title_short Biocompatible bright orange emissive carbon dots: Multifunctional nanoprobes for highly specific sensing toxic Cr(VI) ions and mitochondrial targeting cancer cell imaging
title_sort biocompatible bright orange emissive carbon dots multifunctional nanoprobes for highly specific sensing toxic cr vi ions and mitochondrial targeting cancer cell imaging
topic Hexavalent chromium
Heavy metal sensing
Fluorescence
Orange color emission
Carbon dots
Mitochondria labeling
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666831924000675
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