What Everybody Ought To Know About Fluorescent Polymers

In recent years, there are huge demands for fluorescent materials, as they play important roles in various research areas such as chemistry and biology. Due to their fascinating properties and important applications in the fields of materials and life sciences, the research on fluorescent polymers has also attracted extensive scientific attention. In September 2020, polymer researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi, in collaboration with other scientists, have developed fluorescent solids and according to their research, they said that to be the brightest known materials in existence. Their discoveries may be potentially applied in everything from solar energy to medical diagnostics and lasers, and even in autonomous cars. More studies are on the way to find more about the fluorescent polymers for their potential applications. So what exactly are these polymers?

What Are Fluorescent Polymers?

Fluorescent polymers are functional macromolecules with various and important applications, which can be potentially used in fields such as fluorescent probes, smart polymer machines, fluorescent chemical sensors, fluorescent molecular thermometers, fluorescent imaging, and drug delivery vehicles. Polymers are convenient because they are easy to process into small particles and films that can be deposited on optical fibers and waveguides used in sensor manufacturing. Advanced strategies, such as electrostatic layer-by-layer assembly and self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers containing chromophores, have also been used to form fluorescent systems.

In fact, these macromolecules can be classified. For instance, fluorescent polymers can be classified as being hydrophobic, hydrophilic, and amphiphilic separately according to their solubility. Due to in-depth research in recent years, various methods of designing and synthesizing fluorescent polymers have also been developed. For example, fluorescent polymers can be synthesized by polymerizing fluorescent functional monomers by using fluorescent compounds as initiators, fluorescent compounds as chain transfer agents, chemical bonding between fluorescent groups and polymers, and polymerization of non-fluorescent functional monomers.

As an established drug delivery company offering customized solutions for developing and producing new and biocompatible drug delivery systems, CD Bioparticles provides researchers access to various fluorescent polymers, such as the fluorescent dextrans, which are featured with Mw ranges from 6 kDa to 2000 kDa and additional functional group useful for further conjugation and modification, and fluorescent lipid PEGs, which are useful for visualizing the post-PEGylation of liposomes and biocompatible and fluorescent building blocks of nanostructures.

About the Author

As a drug delivery company which provides customized solutions for developing and producing new, biocompatible drug delivery systems, CD Bioparticles can provide a variety of fluorescent polymers for applications in the fluorescent nanoparticle/scaffold/hydrogel preparation, tracking and detection of cell uptake (e.g. macrophage), being able to conjugate with biomolecules for cell-specific and tissue-specific targeting, tracking, and detecting, and PK/PD analysis.

Reference

1. Yuan, Jinying, et al. Formation and photoluminescence of fluorescent polymers.(2010).