Carbon Dots from Sugars and Ascorbic Acid: Role of the Precursors on Morphology, Properties, Toxicity, and Drug Uptake.

There is the need for reproducible, simple, high-yielding synthetic protocols aimed at obtaining carbon dots (CDs) with controlled fluorescence, photothermal and photochemical behavior, surface properties, biocompatibility, tumor targeting ability, drug absorption biodistribution, and tumor uptake. This Letter describes a systematic study on the effect of glucose, fructose, and ascorbic acid as starting materials for the preparation of highly luminescent CDs, characterized by a blue emission. Their composition and morphology are investigated by titration of OH surface groups, spectroscopic techniques, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and their toxicity was tested toward HeLa cells.

Bottom-up synthesis of carbon nanoparticles with higher doxorubicin efficacy.

Nanomedicine requires intelligent and non-toxic nanomaterials for real clinical applications. Carbon materials possess interesting properties but with some limitations due to toxic effects. Interest in carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) is increasing because they are considered green materials with tunable optical properties, overcoming the problem of toxicity associated with quantum dots or nanocrystals, and can be utilized as smart drug delivery systems.