Molecular Rotors for Universal Quantitation of Nanoscale Hydrophobic Interfaces in Microplate Format.
Paul W BissoMichelle TaiHari KatepalliNicolas BertrandDaniel BlankschteinRobert S LangerPublished in: Nano letters (2017)
Hydrophobic self-assembly pairs diverse chemical precursors and simple formulation processes to access a vast array of functional colloids. Exploration of this design space, however, is stymied by lack of broadly general, high-throughput colloid characterization tools. Here, we show that a narrow structural subset of fluorescent, zwitterionic molecular rotors, dialkylaminostilbazolium sulfonates [DASS] with intermediate-length alkyl tails, fills this major analytical void by quantitatively sensing hydrophobic interfaces in microplate format. DASS dyes supersede existing interfacial probes by avoiding off-target fluorogenic interactions and dye aggregation while preserving hydrophobic partitioning strength. To illustrate the generality of this approach, we demonstrate (i) a microplate-based technique for measuring mass concentration of small (20-200 nm), dilute (submicrogram sensitivity) drug delivery nanoparticles; (ii) elimination of particle size, surfactant chemistry, and throughput constraints on quantifying the complex surfactant/metal oxide adsorption isotherms critical for environmental remediation and enhanced oil recovery; and (iii) more reliable self-assembly onset quantitation for chemically and structurally distinct amphiphiles. These methods could streamline the development of nanotechnologies for a broad range of applications.
Keyphrases
- aqueous solution
- ionic liquid
- drug delivery
- high throughput
- ms ms
- liquid chromatography
- mass spectrometry
- living cells
- single molecule
- liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry
- small molecule
- tandem mass spectrometry
- quantum dots
- cancer therapy
- solid phase extraction
- photodynamic therapy
- risk assessment
- molecular dynamics simulations
- fluorescence imaging
- human health
- high resolution
- fluorescent probe
- life cycle