Controllable Emission via Tuning the Size of Fluorescent Nano-probes Formed by Polymeric Amphiphiles

Incorporating fluorophores into polymeric nanoparticles has been testified as a feasible way to improve the emitting property and bio-compatibility of nano-emitters, which can be applied as fluorescent probes in labeling cells for imaging. Plenty of efforts have been made on the above direction. However, the size effect of nano-emitters has not been addressed yet mainly given the difficulties in controlling morphology and size of the assemblies. In our preceding study, we employed post-polymerization modification method for preparing amphiphilic copolymers, and obtained core-shell (the hydrophobic fluorophores are wrapped inside the nanoparticle to form the core) assemblies in aqueous solution. By this method, we are able to regulate the ratio of the hydrophilic/hydrophobic moieties, and thus alternate the size of the assemblies in a rather simple way. In this study, we synthesized a series of random copolymers by changing the ratio of poly(ethylene glycol) to tetraphenylethylene groups. Notably, the number of repeating units of the polymer was controlled constant for all the copolymers. The self-assembly of these copolymers resulted in different sizes of nanoparticles, and the size decreased with the decreasing fraction of poly(ethylene glycol). Interestingly, the emission of the nanoparticles showed size dependence, and smaller diameter corresponded to stronger emission. Being cultured with HeLa cells, either the large (diameter of ∼300 nm) or the small (diameter of ∼180 nm) nano-emitters allowed for very high cell viabilities up to 25 µg·mL −1 . Both of them can be applied in cell imaging and provide high contrast fluorescent images.