Colloidal inorganic nanocrystals, grown via solution phase reactions, have dimensions of ~1-100 nm, a size regime that is comparable to those of biomolecules. Nanocrystals made of semiconductor, metal and metal oxide cores exhibit unique photo-physical properties not shared by their bulk parent materials. These materials offer great promises for use as in vivo and in vitro platforms in biomedical applications.<br/>We have developed a new set of multifunctional, metal-coordinating polymers that are optimized for surface functionalizing a variety of inorganic nanocrystals. The ligand design exploits the effectiveness of the one-step nucleophilic addition reaction to introduce several anchoring groups, hydrophilic or hydrophobic moieties and reactive functionalities into a single polymer chain. In particular, we have shown that, in addition to luminescent quantum dots, these ligands can be applied to functionalize iron oxide nanocrystals, Au nanoparticles, Au nanorods, and Au nano-shells and Au nano-stars alike. This surface-functionalization strategy promotes steric stabilization of the nanocrystals over a wide range of conditions. It also yields compact and reactive platforms, while preventing corona formation in biological media. Characterization of the coating relied on NMR as well as other spectroscopy techniques. We have further used the resulting hydrophilic platforms to develop a range of applications, which include biosensor design and live cell imaging.

Integration of inorganic nanomaterials within biological systems using a coordinating polymer coating

256th National Meeting (2018)

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