L‐Arginine‐Functionalized Carbon Dots with Enhanced Red Emission and Upregulated Intracellular L‐Arginine Intake for Obesity Inhibition

Abstract Obesity is a major global health problem that significantly increases the risk of many other diseases. Herein, a facile method of suppressing lipogenesis and obesity using L‐arginine‐functionalized carbon dots (L‐Arg@CDots) is reported. The prepared CDots with a negative surface charge form stronger bonds than D‐arginine and lysine with L‐Arg in water. The L‐Arg@CDots in the aqueous solution offer a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 23.6% in the red wavelength region. The proposed L‐Arg functionalization strategy not only protects the red emission of the CDots from quenching by water molecules but also enhances the intracellular uptake of L‐Arg to reduce lipogenesis. Injection of L‐Arg@CDots can reduce the body weight increase in ob/ob mice by suppressing their food intake and shrinking the white adipose tissue cells, thereby significantly inhibiting obesity.