Modification of polyfluorene nanoparticles via inclusion complexa- tion based on cyclodextrin for lectin sensing and cell imaging

Currently, conjugated polymer nanoparticles are widely used with many biological applications, especially bio-imaging and labeling. Thus their modification with different biomacromolecules becomes a crucial step before various applications. In literature,this modification was normally performed via covalent bonds. To our best knowledge, modification based on inclusion complexation has not been reported. Herein, via host-guest interaction between cyclodextrin and adamantane, supramolecular modification to conjugated polyfluorene nanoparticles has been successfully achieved. The glycopolymer-modified conjugated polymer nanoparticles showed excellent binding ability to lectins, such as Galectin-3 and selective imaging behavior to Hep G2 cells.