Chinese Journal of Applied Chemistry ›› 2020, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (9): 1003-1009.DOI: 10.11944/j.issn.1000-0518.2020.09.200100

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Folic Acid-Carbon Dot Conjugates for Cancer Cell Targeting

HU Guowena*, QIAO Yulingb   

  1. aState Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry,College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730000,China;
    bBeijing Institute of Biological Products Co.LTD,Beijing 100024,China
  • Received:2020-04-08 Published:2020-09-01 Online:2020-09-09
  • Contact: HU Guowen,engineer; Tel:0931-8912500; E-mail:hugw@lzu.edu.cn; Research interests:functional materials

Abstract: Fluorescent nanobioprobes with cell-targeting specificity are promising to find important applications in bioanalysis, biomedicine, and clinical diagnosis. In this work, folic acid-carbon dot conjugates (FA-CDs) were prepared via hydrothermal method and 1-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) chemistry. The as-prepared FA-CDs with low toxicity and high luminescence can specifically target cancer cells. The specificity of this receptor-mediated internalization was confirmed by comparing the uptake by Hela and NIH-3T3 cells. This work is of great significance for the early diagnosis of cancer cells.

Key words: carbon dots, folic acid, nanobioprobe, targeting, cancer cell