Carbon Nanospheres: Tunable Luminescent Carbon Nanospheres with Well-Defined Nanoscale Chemistry for Synchronized Imaging and Therapy (Small 36/2015)

Drug (PTX)-loaded luminescent carbon nanoparticles (LCNs) are passivated with a thermoresponsive polymer (PNIPAM) inside melanoma cells. On page 4691, R. Bhargava, D. Pan, and co-workers acquire such images using confocal fluorescence techniques. A representative cartoon of the nanoparticles is shown in black, where the white and the green shells represent the anti-cancer drug (PTX: molecular structure shown) and the PNIPAM coating, respectively. The cells, upon internalizing the particles under physiological conditions, trigger the delivery of drugs contained in them.