TY - JOUR A1 - Natte, Kishore A1 - Behnke, Thomas A1 - Orts Gil, Guillermo A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian A1 - Österle, Werner A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Synthesis and characterisation of highly fluorescent core-shell nanoparticles based on Alexa dyes N2 - Current and future developments in the emerging field of nanobiotechnology are closely linked to the rational design of novel fluorescent nanomaterials, e.g. for biosensing and imaging applications. Here, the synthesis of bright near infrared (NIR)-emissive nanoparticles based on the grafting of silica nanoparticles (SNPs) with 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES) followed by covalent attachment of Alexa dyes and their subsequent shielding by an additional silica shell are presented. These nanoparticles were investigated by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fluorescence spectroscopy. TEM studies revealed the monodispersity of the initially prepared and fluorophorelabelled silica particles and the subsequent formation of raspberry-like structures after addition of a silica precursor.Measurements of absolute fluorescence Quantum yields of these scattering particle suspensions with an integrating sphere setup demonstrated the influence of dye labelling density-dependent fluorophore Aggregation on the signaling behaviour of such nanoparticles. KW - Silica KW - Alexa dyes KW - Fluorescent particles KW - Quantum yields KW - Nanoparticles KW - Protective shell KW - Nanobiotechnology PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0680-9 SN - 1388-0764 SN - 1572-896X VL - 14 IS - 2 SP - 680-1 - 680-10 PB - Kluwer CY - Dordrecht AN - OPUS4-25872 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Behnke, Thomas T1 - NIR-Fluorescent Particles as Internal Standards in Biosensors T2 - Doktorandentagung CY - Attendorn, Germany DA - 2009-02-15 PY - 2009 AN - OPUS4-19420 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Laux, Eva-Maria A1 - Behnke, Thomas A1 - Hoffmann, Katrin A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Keeping particles brilliant - simple methods for the determination of the dye content of fluorophore-loaded polymeric particles N2 - One of the most active research areas in the life and material sciences is the design and synthesis of fluorescent nano- and micrometre sized particles for applications e.g. as labels, sensor systems, and platforms for fluorescence assays or barcoding materials. The reliable and reproducible fabrication of such particles as well as many applications require accurate, simple, and versatile procedures for the determination of the dye content per particle which affects e.g. the brightness of these materials and their surface charge and thus, colloidal stability. Here, four fast and inexpensive spectroscopic methods for the quantification of the fluorophore content of beads are presented and compared for nanometre- and micrometre sized polystyrene particles loaded or labeled with commercial fluorophores, differing in dye class, charge, and hydrophilicity. This included the determination of the amount of incorporated dye from absorption spectra of bead suspensions, via dissolving of the polymer matrix, via extraction of the polymer matrix, and from the supernatant of the swelling solution or reaction mixture. Method validation was performed with a sulfur-containing dye and elemental analysis. Based upon this method comparison and the accomplishable uncertainties, two reliable strategies for particle characterization and bead process control are identified that can be easily extended to other materials. PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c2ay05822g SN - 1759-9660 SN - 1759-9679 VL - 4 IS - 6 SP - 1759 EP - 1768 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-26051 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Moser, Marko A1 - Behnke, Thomas A1 - Hamers-Allin, Carolina A1 - Klein-Hartwig, Karin A1 - Falkenhagen, Jana A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Quantification of PEG-maleimide ligands and coupling efficiencies on nanoparticles with Ellman's reagent N2 - The surface modification of nanometer- and micrometer-sized particles and planar substrates with polyethylene glycol (PEG) ligands of varying length is a very common strategy to tune the hydrophilicity and biocompatibility of such materials, minimize unspecific interactions, improve biofunctionalization efficiencies, and enhance blood circulation times. Nevertheless, simple methods for the quantification of PEG ligands are comparatively rare. Here, we present a new concept for the quantification of PEG ligands for maleimide-functionalized PEG molecules and the determination of PEG coupling efficiencies, exploiting the quantitative reaction of maleimide with ʟ-cysteine, and the subsequent determination of the unreacted thiol with the photometric Ellman's test. This is shown for heterobifunctional PEG spacers of varying length and amino-functionalized polystyrene nanoparticles (PS NP) without and with differently charged encoding dyes. The reaction of ʟ-cysteine with the Ellman's reagent was monitored photometrically and with electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS) to derive the reaction mechanism and to obtain the stoichiometry factor for ʟ-cysteine quantification. Mass balances and quantification of ʟ-cysteine via its sulfur concentration using elemental analysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) confirmed the accuracy and reliability of this approach that can be extended to other surface groups and ligands. KW - Photometric assay KW - Surface analysis KW - Nanoparticle KW - Polyethylene glycol KW - PEG quantification KW - Ellman's test PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5b02173 SN - 0003-2700 SN - 1520-6882 VL - 87 IS - 18 SP - 9376 EP - 9383 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-34468 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -