Facile preparation of water soluble and biocompatible fluorescent organic nanoparticles through the combination of RAFT polymerization and self-polymerization of dopamine

Fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) have attracted intensive research interest for a variety of biomedical applications. Therefore, preparation of novel FONs with excellent optical properties and good biocompatibility in rather facile manner is of utmost importance. In this work, FONs based on dopamine (DA) containing copolymers were facilely fabricated through the combination of reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and self-polymerization of DA containing copolymers (poly(AC- co -PEGMA)), which were obtained by the one-pot polymerization of poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate and acryloyl chloride in the present of DA. To generate these FONs, polyethyleneimine (PEI) was mixed with polymer-DA conjugates under rather mild experimental conditions (e.g. room temperature , absent of catalysts, air atmosphere and aqueous solution). Results confirmed polymer-DA-PEI FONs owned excellent water dispersibility and strong green fluorescence and desirable biocompatibility. All of these features make polymer-DA-PEI FONs alternative candidates for biomedical applications. In conclusion, we developed a rather facile strategy to fabricate novel types of FONs through the combination of RAFT polymerization and self-polymerization of DA. Because of the good monomer adaptability, this strategy could also be used for fabrication of many other FONs with different functional groups and properties.