Development and Screening of Methodologies for Preparation of Fluorescent Carbon Quantum Dots for Bio-medical and Forensic Imaging.

Tamilla Gulakhmedova, School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Michael Gozin, School Of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Svetlana Pevzner, Dimona Nrc, Dimona, Israel
Adi Moyal, Dimona Nrc, Dimona, Israel

One of the important approaches for development of new imaging probes for bio-medical and forensic applications is preparation of fluorescent quantum dots. These nanoparticles-based dyes can exhibit superior brightness and photo-stability over conventional molecular probes. Although significant progress has been made in the development of fluorescent semi-conductor nano-crystals for biological labeling and imaging, toxicity issues associated with presence of heavy metals have limited the application potential of these nano-crystals. In this work, we screened a series of techniques and starting materials for preparation of metal-free fluorescent carbon quantum dots, which were designed to be a nontoxic alternative to semi-conductor nano-crystals.