skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Azide–Alkyne Click Conjugation on Quantum Dots by Selective Copper Coordination

Journal Article · · ACS Nano
 [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). The Molecular Foundry
  2. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Dept. of Physiology and Membrane Biology
  3. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Dept. of Physiology and Membrane Biology

Functionalization of nanocrystals is essential for their practical application, but synthesis on nanocrystal surfaces is limited by incompatibilities with certain key reagents. The copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition is among the most useful methods for ligating molecules to surfaces, but has been largely useless for semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) because Cu+ions quickly and irreversibly quench QD fluorescence. To discover nonquenching synthetic conditions for Cu-catalyzed click reactions on QD surfaces, we developed a combinatorial fluorescence assay to screen >2000 reaction conditions to maximize cycloaddition efficiency while minimizing QD quenching. We identify conditions for complete coupling without significant quenching, which are compatible with common QD polymer surfaces and various azide/alkyne pairs. Based on insight from the combinatorial screen and mechanistic studies of Cu coordination and quenching, we find that superstoichiometric concentrations of Cu can promote full coupling if accompanied by ligands that selectively compete with the Cu from the QD surface but allow it to remain catalytically active. Applied to the conjugation of a K+ channel-specific peptidyl toxin to CdSe/ZnS QDs, we synthesize unquenched QD conjugates and image their specific and voltage-dependent affinity for K+ channels in live cells.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1460332
Journal Information:
ACS Nano, Vol. 12, Issue 5; ISSN 1936-0851
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 22 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (56)

Quantum dot bioconjugates for imaging, labelling and sensing journal June 2005
Compact high-quality CdSe–CdS core–shell nanocrystals with narrow emission linewidths and suppressed blinking journal February 2013
The surface science of nanocrystals journal January 2016
Energy Transfer with Semiconductor Quantum Dot Bioconjugates: A Versatile Platform for Biosensing, Energy Harvesting, and Other Developing Applications journal March 2016
Quantum Dot Surface Chemistry and Functionalization for Cell Targeting and Imaging journal March 2015
Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer Between Quantum Dot Donors and Dye-Labeled Protein Acceptors journal January 2004
Development of a Bioorthogonal and Highly Efficient Conjugation Method for Quantum Dots Using Tetrazine−Norbornene Cycloaddition journal June 2010
Avidin:  A Natural Bridge for Quantum Dot-Antibody Conjugates journal May 2002
DNA-Functionalized Quantum Dots: Fabrication, Structural, and Physicochemical Properties journal May 2013
Poly(ethylene glycol) Carbodiimide Coupling Reagents for the Biological and Chemical Functionalization of Water-Soluble Nanoparticles journal March 2009
A Novel Fluorescent Probe for Copper Ions Based on Polymer-modified CdSe/CdS Core/Shell Quantum Dots journal January 2011
Tarantula toxins use common surfaces for interacting with Kv and ASIC ion channels journal May 2015
Chemoselective tarantula toxins report voltage activation of wild-type ion channels in live cells journal October 2014
Analysis and Optimization of Copper-Catalyzed Azide–Alkyne Cycloaddition for Bioconjugation journal December 2009
Reliable and Efficient Procedures for the Conjugation of Biomolecules through Huisgen Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions journal August 2011
Fast, Cell-Compatible Click Chemistry with Copper-Chelating Azides for Biomolecular Labeling journal May 2012
Toward the Syntheses of Universal Ligands for Metal Oxide Surfaces:  Controlling Surface Functionality through Click Chemistry journal September 2006
How to very efficiently functionalize gold nanoparticles by “click” chemistry journal January 2008
A Stepwise Huisgen Cycloaddition Process: Copper(I)-Catalyzed Regioselective “Ligation” of Azides and Terminal Alkynes journal July 2002
Efficient construction of therapeutics, bioconjugates, biomaterials and bioactive surfaces using azide–alkyne “click” chemistry☆ journal June 2008
Advancements in the mechanistic understanding of the copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition journal January 2013
Luminescent detection of Cu(II) ions in aqueous solution using CdSe and CdSe-ZnS quantum dots functionalised with mercaptosuccinic acid journal April 2009
Luminescence of Polyethylene Glycol Coated CdSeTe/ZnS and InP/ZnS Nanoparticles in the Presence of Copper Cations journal June 2011
Investigations of ion transport through nanoscale polymer membranes by fluorescence quenching of CdSe/CdS quantum dot/quantum rods journal January 2016
Controlling the Physical and Biological Properties of Highly Fluorescent Aqueous Quantum Dots Using Block Copolymers of Different Size and Shape journal September 2013
Sequential Cation Exchange in Nanocrystals: Preservation of Crystal Phase and Formation of Metastable Phases journal November 2011
Cu-free click cycloaddition reactions in chemical biology journal January 2010
A Strain-Promoted [3 + 2] Azide−Alkyne Cycloaddition for Covalent Modification of Biomolecules in Living Systems journal November 2004
Hydrophobic Nanocrystals Coated with an Amphiphilic Polymer Shell:  A General Route to Water Soluble Nanocrystals journal April 2004
Dual-Emitting Quantum Dot/Quantum Rod-Based Nanothermometers with Enhanced Response and Sensitivity in Live Cells journal June 2012
Covalent Protein Labeling and Improved Single-Molecule Optical Properties of Aqueous CdSe/CdS Quantum Dots journal June 2017
Tailored Ligand Acceleration of the Cu-Catalyzed Azide−Alkyne Cycloaddition Reaction: Practical and Mechanistic Implications journal October 2010
Sulfated Ligands for the Copper(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition journal September 2011
Ligand-Accelerated Cu-Catalyzed Azide−Alkyne Cycloaddition:  A Mechanistic Report journal October 2007
Benzimidazole and Related Ligands for Cu-Catalyzed Azide−Alkyne Cycloaddition journal October 2007
Direct Evidence of a Dinuclear Copper Intermediate in Cu(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions journal April 2013
On the Mechanism of Copper(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition journal May 2016
Experimental Investigation on the Mechanism of Chelation-Assisted, Copper(II) Acetate-Accelerated Azide–Alkyne Cycloaddition journal September 2011
Dicopper Cu(I)Cu(I) and Cu(I)Cu(II) Complexes in Copper-Catalyzed Azide–Alkyne Cycloaddition journal April 2017
Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) as a High-Throughput Assay for Coupling Reactions. Arylation of Amines as a Case Study journal June 2003
Optimization of a Biomimetic Transamination Reaction journal September 2008
Cucurbit[6]uril-Promoted Click Chemistry for Protein Modification journal July 2017
Discovery of Chemoselective and Biocompatible Reactions Using a High-Throughput Immunoassay Screening journal October 2013
Discovery and Characterization of Catalysts for Azide−Alkyne Cycloaddition by Fluorescence Quenching journal August 2004
Increasing the Efficacy of Bioorthogonal Click Reactions for Bioconjugation: A Comparative Study journal July 2011
Biocompatible Copper(I) Catalysts for in Vivo Imaging of Glycans journal December 2010
Quantum Dot Peptide Biosensors for Monitoring Caspase 3 Proteolysis and Calcium Ions journal August 2010
Labeling Live Cells by Copper-Catalyzed Alkyne−Azide Click Chemistry journal October 2010
Asymmetric Assembling of Iron Oxide Nanocubes for Improving Magnetic Hyperthermia Performance journal November 2017
Rationally Designed Energy Transfer in Upconverting Nanoparticles journal March 2015
Energy-Looping Nanoparticles: Harnessing Excited-State Absorption for Deep-Tissue Imaging journal September 2016
Pearson Correlation Analysis of Microarray Data Allows for the Identification of Genetic Targets for Early B-cell Factor journal April 2004
Correlation of microarray-based breast cancer molecular subtypes and clinical outcomes: implications for treatment optimization journal April 2011
Mapping Adverse Drug Reactions in Chemical Space journal April 2009
Atomic structure of a voltage-dependent K+ channel in a lipid membrane-like environment journal November 2007
Solution Structure of GxTX-1E, a High-Affinity Tarantula Toxin Interacting with Voltage Sensors in Kv2.1 Potassium Channels, journal June 2010

Cited By (6)

Low irradiance multiphoton imaging with alloyed lanthanide nanocrystals journal August 2018
Simultaneous near-infrared and green fluorescence from single conjugated polymer dots with aggregation-induced emission fluorogen for cell imaging journal January 2018
The CuAAC: Principles, Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysts, and Novel Developments and Applications journal October 2019
Ligand-conjugated quantum dots for fast sub-diffraction protein tracking in acute brain slices journal January 2020
Electrostatic Repulsion Controls Efficiency of Cu‐Free Click‐Reaction with Azide‐Modified Semiconductor Quantum Dots journal January 2020
A 25 micron-thin microscope for imaging upconverting nanoparticles with NIR-I and NIR-II illumination journal January 2019