Luminescent nanoparticle compositions
AssigneeBoard of Regents, The University of Texas System
InventorJie Zheng
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Abstract
A composition is disclosed which is capable of being used for detection, comprising a noble metal nanoparticle. The inventive compositions exhibit little interaction with serum proteins while exhibiting pH-dependent adsorption onto live cell membranes. The nanoparticles of the claimed invention are capable of interacting with cell membranes, which in turn permits the advantages of nanoparticle bio-imaging to be extended to many pH dependent biological processes such as targeting acidic tumor microenvironment.
Claims23
A composition comprising a fluorescent noble metal nanoparticle, wherein the surface of the noble metal nanoparticle is coated with a first anti-fouling ligand and a second pH-dependent ligand, and wherein the noble metal nanoparticle is about 0.1 nm to 3 nm in diameter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.