TY - JOUR A1 - Heyne, Benjamin A1 - Arlt, Kristin A1 - Geßner, André A1 - Richter, Alexander F. A1 - Döblinger, Markus A1 - Feldmann, Jochen A1 - Taubert, Andreas A1 - Wedel, Armin T1 - Mixed Mercaptocarboxylic Acid Shells Provide Stable Dispersions of InPZnS/ZnSe/ZnS Multishell Quantum Dots in Aqueous Media JF - Nanomaterials N2 - Highly luminescent indium phosphide zinc sulfide (InPZnS) quantum dots (QDs), with zinc selenide/zinc sulfide (ZnSe/ZnS) shells, were synthesized. The QDs were modified via a post-synthetic ligand exchange reaction with 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) and 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) in different MPA:MUA ratios, making this study the first investigation into the effects of mixed ligand shells on InPZnS QDs. Moreover, this article also describes an optimized method for the correlation of the QD size vs. optical absorption of the QDs. Upon ligand exchange, the QDs can be dispersed in water. Longer ligands (MUA) provide more stable dispersions than short-chain ligands. Thicker ZnSe/ZnS shells provide a better photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) and higher emission stability upon ligand exchange. Both the ligand exchange and the optical properties are highly reproducible between different QD batches. Before dialysis, QDs with a ZnS shell thickness of ~4.9 monolayers (ML), stabilized with a mixed MPA:MUA (mixing ratio of 1:10), showed the highest PLQY, at ~45%. After dialysis, QDs with a ZnS shell thickness of ~4.9 ML, stabilized with a mixed MPA:MUA and a ratio of 1:10 and 1:100, showed the highest PLQYs, of ~41%. The dispersions were stable up to 44 days at ambient conditions and in the dark. After 44 days, QDs with a ZnS shell thickness of ~4.9 ML, stabilized with only MUA, showed the highest PLQY, of ~34%. KW - quantum dots KW - cadmium-free KW - Cd-free KW - InP KW - InPZnS KW - multishell KW - mercaptocarboxylic acids KW - 3-mercaptopropionic acid KW - 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid KW - phase transfer KW - ligand exchange KW - aqueous dispersion KW - QDs Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10091858 SN - 2079-4991 VL - 10 IS - 9 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cywinski, Piotr J. A1 - Hammann, Tommy A1 - Huehn, Dominik A1 - Parak, Wolfgang J. A1 - Hildebrandt, Niko A1 - Löhmannsröben, Hans-Gerd T1 - Europium-quantum dot nanobioconjugates as luminescent probes for time-gated biosensing JF - Journal of biomedical optics N2 - Nanobioconjugates have been synthesized using cadmium selenide quantum dots (QDs), europium complexes (EuCs), and biotin. In those conjugates, long-lived photoluminescence (PL) is provided by the europium complexes, which efficiently transfer energy via Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) to the QDs in close spatial proximity. As a result, the conjugates have a PL emission spectrum characteristic for QDs combined with the long PL decay time characteristic for EuCs. The nanobioconjugates synthesis strategy and photo-physical properties are described as well as their performance in a time-resolved streptavidin-biotin PL assay. In order to prepare the QD-EuC-biotin conjugates, first an amphiphilic polymer has been functionalized with the EuC and biotin. Then, the polymer has been brought onto the surface of the QDs (either QD655 or QD705) to provide functionality and to make the QDs water dispersible. Due to a short distance between EuC and QD, an efficient FRET can be observed. Additionally, the QD-EuC-biotin conjugates' functionality has been demonstrated in a PL assay yielding good signal discrimination, both from autofluorescence and directly excited QDs. These newly designed QD-EuC-biotin conjugates expand the class of highly sensitive tools for bioanalytical optical detection methods for diagnostic and imaging applications. (C) 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) KW - quantum dots KW - europium complex KW - amphiphilic polymer assembly KW - nanobioconjugate KW - biosensor KW - time-resolved fluorescence Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.19.10.101506 SN - 1083-3668 SN - 1560-2281 VL - 19 IS - 10 PB - SPIE CY - Bellingham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Morgner, Frank A1 - Stufler, Stefan A1 - Geissler, Daniel A1 - Medintz, Igor L. A1 - Algar, W. Russ A1 - Susumu, Kimihiro A1 - Stewart, Michael H. A1 - Blanco-Canosa, Juan B. A1 - Dawson, Philip E. A1 - Hildebrandt, Niko T1 - Terbium to quantum dot FRET Bioconjugates for clinical diagnostics influence of human plasma on optical and assembly properties JF - Sensors N2 - Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from luminescent terbium complexes (LTC) as donors to semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) as acceptors allows extraordinary large FRET efficiencies due to the long Forster distances afforded. Moreover, time-gated detection permits an efficient suppression of autofluorescent background leading to sub-picomolar detection limits even within multiplexed detection formats. These characteristics make FRET-systems with LTC and QDs excellent candidates for clinical diagnostics. So far, such proofs of principle for highly sensitive multiplexed biosensing have only been performed under optimized buffer conditions and interactions between real-life clinical media such as human serum or plasma and LTC-QD-FRET-systems have not yet been taken into account. Here we present an extensive spectroscopic analysis of absorption, excitation and emission spectra along with the luminescence decay times of both the single components as well as the assembled FRET-systems in TRIS-buffer, TRIS-buffer with 2% bovine serum albumin, and fresh human plasma. Moreover, we evaluated homogeneous LTC-QD FRET assays in QD conjugates assembled with either the well-known, specific biotin-streptavidin biological interaction or, alternatively, the metal-affinity coordination of histidine to zinc. In the case of conjugates assembled with biotin-streptavidin no significant interference with the optical and binding properties occurs whereas the histidine-zinc system appears to be affected by human plasma. KW - FRET KW - quantum dots KW - terbium KW - luminescence lifetime KW - blood KW - plasma KW - clinical diagnostics KW - biotin KW - streptavidin KW - histidin KW - immunoassay Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s111009667 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 11 IS - 10 SP - 9667 EP - 9684 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Olejko, Lydia A1 - Cywiński, Piotr J. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - An ion-controlled four-color fluorescent telomeric switch on DNA origami structures JF - Nanoscale N2 - The folding of single-stranded telomeric DNA into guanine (G) quadruplexes is a conformational change that plays a major role in sensing and drug targeting. The telomeric DNA can be placed on DNA origami nanostructures to make the folding process extremely selective for K+ ions even in the presence of high Na+ concentrations. Here, we demonstrate that the K+-selective G-quadruplex formation is reversible when using a cryptand to remove K+ from the G-quadruplex. We present a full characterization of the reversible switching between single-stranded telomeric DNA and G-quadruplex structures using Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the dyes fluorescein (FAM) and cyanine3 (Cy3). When attached to the DNA origami platform, the G-quadruplex switch can be incorporated into more complex photonic networks, which is demonstrated for a three-color and a four-color FRET cascade from FAM over Cy3 and Cy5 to IRDye700 with G-quadruplex-Cy3 acting as a switchable transmitter. KW - resonance energy-transfer KW - g-quadruplex KW - quantum dots KW - strand breakage KW - photonic wires KW - 3-color fret KW - nanostructures KW - recognition KW - sensitivity KW - assemblies Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C6NR00119J SN - 2040-3372 SN - 2040-3364 VL - 8 SP - 10339 EP - 10347 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge ER -