DEVELOPMENT AND SCREENING OF METHODOLOGIES FOR PREPARATION OF FLUORESCENT CARBON QUANTUM DOTS FOR BIO-MEDICAL AND FORENSIC IMAGING

One of the important approaches for development of new imaging probes for bio-medical and forensic applications is preparation of fluorescent quantum dots. These nanoparticles-based dyes can exhibit superior brightness and photo-stability over conventional molecular probes. Although significant progress has been made in the development of fluorescent semi-conductor nano-crystals for biological labeling and imaging, toxicity issues associated with presence of heavy metals have limited the application potential of these nano-crystals. In this work, we screened a series of techniques and starting materials for preparation of metal-free fluorescent carbon quantum dots, which were designed to be a nontoxic alternative to semi-conductor nano-crystals.