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Selective optosensing of iron(III) ions in HeLa cells using NaYF4:Yb3+/Tm3+ upconversion nanoparticles coated with polyepinephrine

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Abstract

Novel polyepinephrine-modified NaYF4:Yb,Tm upconversion luminescent nanoparticles (UCNP@PEP) were prepared via the self-polymerization of epinephrine on the surfaces of the UCNPs for selective sensing of Fe3+ inside a cell and for intracellular imaging. The proposed UCNP@PEP probe is a strong blue light emitter (λmax = 474 nm) upon exposure to an excitation wavelength of 980 nm. The probe was used for detecting Fe3+ owing to the complexation reaction between UCNP@PEP and Fe3+, resulting in reduced upconversion luminescence (UCL) intensity. The proposed probe has a detection limit of 0.2 μM and a good linear range of 1–10 μM for sensing Fe3+ ions. Moreover, the UCNP@PEP probe displays high cell viability (90%) and is feasible for intracellular imaging. The ability of the probe to sense Fe3+ in a human serum sample was tested and shows promising output for diagnostic purposes. The prepared UCNP@PEP probe was characterized by using UV-visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectrometry, fluorescence (FL) spectrometry, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2020R1I1A3A04036531).

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Author notes

  1. Zayakhuu Gerelkhuu

    Present address: Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea

  2. Zayakhuu Gerelkhuu and Bui The Huy contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Changwon National University, Changwon, 51140, Republic of Korea

    Zayakhuu Gerelkhuu, Bui The Huy, Dasom Jung & Mirkomil Sharipov

  2. Ceramics and Biomaterials Research Group, Advanced Institute of Materials Science, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, 700000, Viet Nam

    Yong-Ill Lee

  3. Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, 700000, Viet Nam

    Yong-Ill Lee

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Gerelkhuu, Z., Huy, B.T., Jung, D. et al. Selective optosensing of iron(III) ions in HeLa cells using NaYF4:Yb3+/Tm3+ upconversion nanoparticles coated with polyepinephrine. Anal Bioanal Chem 413, 1363–1371 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-020-03099-1

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