Small water-soluble quantum dots
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
InventorsPaul R Selvin, Pinghua Ge
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Abstract
Water-soluble, stable fluorescent PEGylated alkanethiol-coated quantum dots are made by contacting quantum dots with PEGylated alkanethiol in a non-oxidative, water-immiscible organic reaction solvent under a non-oxidative gas, wherein the reaction solvent is in contact with an aqueous phase, at elevated temperature and time sufficient to coat the dots with the PEGylated alkanethiol, wherein resultant water-soluble, stable fluorescent PEGylated alkanethiol-coated dots enter the aqueous phase.
Claims20
A method of making water-soluble, stable fluorescent PEGylated alkanethiol-coated quantum dots, the method comprising:
- contacting quantum dots with PEGylated alkanethiol in a non-oxidative, water-immiscible organic reaction solvent under a non-oxidative gas, wherein the reaction solvent is in contact with an aqueous phase, at elevated temperature of 40-80° C. and time sufficient to coat the dots with the PEGylated alkanethiol, wherein resultant water-soluble, stable fluorescent PEGylated alkanethiol-coated dots enter the aqueous phase, wherein the PEGylated alkanethiol is in a mixture of the PEGylated alkanethiol and functionalized PEGylated alkanethiol.
A composition comprising an organic phase comprising quantum dots and PEGylated alkanethiol, at elevated temperature of 40-80° C. under a non-oxidative gas, in contact with an aqueous phase comprising water-soluble, stable fluorescent corresponding PEGylated alkanethiol-coated quantum dots, wherein the PEGylated alkanethiol is in a mixture of the PEGylated alkanethiol and functionalized PEGylated alkanethiol.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.