One Pot Synthesis of Amphiphilic Carbogenic Fluorescent Nanodots for Bioimaging

Abstract Carbogenic fluorescent nanodots (FND) have recently drawn increasing attention in bioimaging. This is mainly due to their unique attractive photoluminescence properties. Although a vast number of reports are available, amphiphilic FND (aFND) are scarcely reported. In addition, the synthetic methods for amphiphilic FND are either tedious multistep processes or in most cases require additional surface passivation. Here, for the first time, using Maillard reaction protocol, we report an easy one pot synthesis aFND using sucrose and diaminooctane as the main precursors. The amphiphilic nature could be regulated easily upon changing the diaminooctane concentration. We demonstrate that the greater the hydrophobic nature in aFND, the more cell‐penetrating capability is observed. Flow cytometry measurements quantitatively show the fast live cell internalisation of the aFND inside HeLa cells. All the above features mark the excellent bio‐compatibility of aFND and give insight into its use as an excellent bioimaging tool.