Synthesis of fluorophore-modified cerium oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs), which have powerful antioxidant properties, are promising nanomaterials for the treatment of diseases associated with oxidative stress. The well-developed surface of CeO2 NPs makes them promising for use as a multifunctional system for various biomedical applications. Small CeO2 NPs have low toxicity for healthy cells. However, their large aggregates have been found to cause granuloma in the lungs and liver and fibrosis in the lungs. Aggregated NPs are usually immunotoxic, while stable non-aggregated NPs exhibit little or no toxicity. Therefore, for biomedical applications CeO2 NPs must have high stability under physiological conditions and in the presence of oxidizing agents and medicines.
In this work, we report a one-step approach to prepare multifunctional CeO2 NPs modified with the organic fluorophore IPCA (CeO2-IPCA NPs). The synthesis of CeO2-IPCA NPs that we have developed has several advantages, such as ease of synthesis, low cost, small size of the resulting NPs with stable intense fluorescence, and lack of toxicity. The optimal molar ratio of the reagents was selected, and the optical properties and colloidal stability of the NPs were studied. Thus, we were able to synthesize CeO2 NPs of ultra-small size ~ 2 nm with a narrow distribution, highly stable fluorescence, and a quantum yield of ~ 62%. The antioxidant properties and high biocompatibility of the obtained CeO2-IPCA NPs were demonstrated. This opens up opportunities for their effective use in bioimaging and therapy.
The work supported by Russian Science foundation (project 22-63-00082).

Speaker

Daria V. Tsyupka
Ph.D student
Russia

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