posted on 2024-02-08, 07:07authored byNing Xu, Haoying Ge, Jiazhu Zheng, Wen Sun, Jianjun Du, Jiangli Fan, Xiaojun Peng
Nucleic acid is one of the most important
substances in organisms,
and its dynamic changes are closely related to physiological processes.
Nucleic acid labeling is conducive to providing important information
for the early diagnosis and treatment of pathophysiological processes.
Here, we utilized the transfer mechanism between carbon sources and
CDs to synthesize wavelength-adjustable N-CDs for the nucleic acid
image. Along with the increased graphite nitrogen (from 10.6 to 30.1%)
gradually by the precise design of the nitrogen structure in carbon
sources (e.g., primary amines, secondary amines, tertiary amines,
and liking graphite-nitrogen), the energy gap of CDs reduced, resulting
in adjustable wavelength from visible to near-infrared range (from
461 nm/527 nm to 650 nm/676 nm). Furthermore, N-CDs exhibited a selective
affinity for nucleic acids, especially RNA. Therefore, N-CDs support
an efficient platform for real-time tracking of RNA dynamic changes
in cells.