Ultrafast Delivery of Aggregation-Induced Emission Nanoparticles and Pure Organic Phosphorescent Nanocrystals by Saponin Encapsulation

Alexander Nicol; Ryan T K Kwok; Congping Chen; Weijun Zhao; Ming Chen; Jianan Qu; Ben Zhong Tang

doi:10.1021/jacs.7b08710

Ultrafast Delivery of Aggregation-Induced Emission Nanoparticles and Pure Organic Phosphorescent Nanocrystals by Saponin Encapsulation

J Am Chem Soc. 2017 Oct 18;139(41):14792-14799. doi: 10.1021/jacs.7b08710. Epub 2017 Oct 9.

Authors

Alexander Nicol^{1

2}, Ryan T K Kwok^{1

2}, Congping Chen³, Weijun Zhao^{1

2}, Ming Chen^{1

2}, Jianan Qu³, Ben Zhong Tang^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Biomedical Engineering, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Department of Chemistry, Institute for Advanced Study, Institute of Molecular Functional Materials and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) , Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China.
² HKUST-Shenzhen Research Institute No. 9 Yuexing First Road, South Area, Hi-tech Park, Nanshan, Shenzhen 518057, China.
³ Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, HKUST , Clear Water Bay Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, China.
⁴ Guangdong Innovative Research Team, SCUT-HKUST Joint Research Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology , Guangzhou 510640, China.

PMID: 28960975
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b08710

Abstract

Saponins are a class of naturally occurring bioactive and biocompatible amphiphilic glycosides produced by plants. Some saponins, such as α-hederin, exhibit unique cell membrane interactions. At concentrations above their critical micelle concentration, they will interact and aggregate with membrane cholesterol to form transient pores in the cell membrane. In this project, we utilized the unique permeabilization and amphiphilic properties of saponins for the intracellular delivery of deep-red-emitting aggregation-induced emission nanoparticles (AIE NPs) and pure organic room-temperature phosphorescent nanocrystals (NCs). We found this method to be biocompatible, inexpensive, ultrafast, and applicable to deliver a wide variety of AIE NPs and NCs into cancer cells.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't