Chen Xueyuan's team from Fujian Institute of physical composition, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yang huanghao's team from Fuzhou University have developed a graphene oxide modified rare earth nanoprobe for tumor targeted luminescence tracing

Rare earth luminescent nanocrystals, which can generate up conversion / down transfer luminescence under the excitation of near-infrared light, have many advantages, such as long lifetime, high quantum yield and tunable luminescent wavelength, and are widely concerned in the field of in vitro diagnosis and medical imaging research At present, the controllable synthesis and luminescent control of rare earth nanocrystals have achieved good development, but high-quality rare earth nanocrystals are usually synthesized in the oil phase How to design the oil dispersed rare earth nanocrystals into nano probes with good water solubility, biocompatibility and probe recognition ability still has many challenges Chen Xueyuan, Key Laboratory of functional nanostructure design and assembly, Fujian Institute of material structure, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Yang huanghao, School of chemistry, Fuzhou University worked together to propose a new probe functionalization strategy by modifying rare earth nanocrystals with graphene oxide under the support of strategic leading science and technology project of Chinese Academy of Sciences, innovation international team of Chinese Academy of Sciences and NSFC A highly sensitive visible and near-infrared two-area luminescent imaging was realized By optimizing the shell structure of rare earth nanocrystals and the size of graphene oxide, the team obtained the monodisperse, highly efficient up conversion / down transfer luminescence properties of graphene oxide coated rare earth nanocrystals binary nanostructure NCS @ go Using the physical and chemical properties of graphene oxide, such as amphiphilic, high specific surface area and rich functional groups, NCS @ go not only has broad-spectrum solvent dispersion and excellent biocompatibility, but also can be further coupled with nucleic acids, proteins or nanoparticles through simple noncovalent bond modification to achieve probe functionalization Using NCS @ go, the team successfully realized real-time localization and tracking of nano probes in tumor cells and visualization of microRNA, as well as background free and highly sensitive near-infrared two area luminescent imaging of tumor targeting in mice This work provides a new idea for the design of rare earth luminescent nanoprobes with special surface properties and biological functions, and will promote the application of new nanoprobes in tumor diagnosis and treatment The results were published in angew Chem Int ed (DOI: 10.1002 / anie 201909416) Song Xiaorong, a postdoctoral fellow of Fujian Institute of physical architecture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the first author of the paper.