ABSTRACT
Nanoparticle-based diagnostic and therapeutic agents have attracted considerable interest because of their potential for applications in clinical oncology and other biomedical research. Versatile nanostructures for in vivo applications, such as lipid and polymeric nanocapsules for drug delivery, iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging, gold nanoparticles for X-ray computed tomography, and quantum dots (Qdots) for fluorescence imaging have been reported. However, the intrinsic toxicity of Qdots is of critical concern, which may impede their final clinical application. Therefore, the design of bright probes with biologically benign materials is highly desirable for many in vivo clinical purposes. Semiconducting polymer dot (Pdot) bioconjugates are a new class of ultrabright fluorescent probes because of their exceptional brightness and their nontoxic feature. Researchers have developed various methods to improve the versatility and functions of Pdots for biomedical studies, such as tuning the emission color, exploring new preparation methods, engineering the particle surface, doping functional sensing molecules, encapsulating magnetic materials, and mapping the sentinel lymph node as a first in vivo study. Researchers have developed a general method to form semiconducting Pdot bioconjugates, and have demonstrated their applications in specific cellular targeting and bioorthogonal labeling. In this entry, we summarize the preparation and applications of various semiconducting Pdot bioconjugates.
