Rod-coil Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Assisting Emulsion Confinement Self-assembly of Hydrophobic Quantum Dot into Robust Bio-imaging Nanoprobe

Jun-Ni Xie; Xiao-Ling Xu; Huan-Di Qiu; Yuan-Yuan Li; Xiao-Feng Peng; Yu-Fei Wang; Xing-Bao Yang; Xiao-Hong He; Dong-Sheng Wang; Kun Jia

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3724-4

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Rod-coil Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Assisting Emulsion Confinement Self-assembly of Hydrophobic Quantum Dot into Robust Bio-imaging Nanoprobe

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-09-23

- Rod-coil Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Assisting Emulsion Confinement Self-assembly of Hydrophobic Quantum Dot into Robust Bio-imaging Nanoprobe
- Rod-coil Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Assisting Emulsion Confinement Self-assembly of Hydrophobic Quantum Dot into Robust Bio-imaging Nanoprobe
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science 2026年44卷第10期页码：3375-3386
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Department of Clinical Laboratory, Sichuan Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Sichuan Cancer Hospital & Institute, Sichuan Cancer Center, Affiliated Cancer Hospital of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610041, China
  b.School of Materials and Energy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
  c.Sichuan Province Engineering Technology Research Center of Novel CN Polymeric Materials, Chengdu 611731, China
  d.Institute of Life Science, eBond Pharmaceutical Technology Ltd., Chengdu 611130, China
  e.Sichuan Meteorological Optoelectronic Sensor Technology and Application Engineering Research Center, College of Optoelectronic Engineering (College of Weather Modification), Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu 610225, China
- Author bio：
  
  lyy759707792@qq.com (Y.Y.L.)
  wangdongshengnc@163.com (D.S.W.)
  jiakun@uestc.edu.cn (K.J.)
- Funds：
  
  This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22375030) and the Science and Technology Program of Sichuan Province (Nos. 2024NSFSC0263, 2024YFHZ0237 and TB2024001).;The authors declare no interest conflict.Electronic supplementary information (ESI) is available free of charge in the online version of this article at http://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3724-4.
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3724-4
  中图分类号： [M
- 收稿：2026-03-02，
  
  修回：2026-03-31，
  
  录用：2026-04-21，
  
  网络首发：2026-08-19，
  
  纸质出版：2026-10-05
- Accepted：
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Xie, J. N.; Xu, X. L.; Qiu, H. D.; Li, Y. Y.; Peng, X. F.; Wang, Y. F.; Yang, X. B.; He, X. H.; Wang, D. S.; Jia, K. Rod-coil amphiphilic block copolymer assisting emulsion confinement self-assembly of hydrophobic quantum dot into robust bio-imaging nanoprobe. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 3375–3386

Jun-Ni Xie, Xiao-Ling Xu, Huan-Di Qiu, et al. Rod-coil Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Assisting Emulsion Confinement Self-assembly of Hydrophobic Quantum Dot into Robust Bio-imaging Nanoprobe[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(10): 3375-3386.
Xie, J. N.; Xu, X. L.; Qiu, H. D.; Li, Y. Y.; Peng, X. F.; Wang, Y. F.; Yang, X. B.; He, X. H.; Wang, D. S.; Jia, K. Rod-coil amphiphilic block copolymer assisting emulsion confinement self-assembly of hydrophobic quantum dot into robust bio-imaging nanoprobe. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 3375–3386 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3724-4.

Jun-Ni Xie, Xiao-Ling Xu, Huan-Di Qiu, et al. Rod-coil Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Assisting Emulsion Confinement Self-assembly of Hydrophobic Quantum Dot into Robust Bio-imaging Nanoprobe[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(10): 3375-3386. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3724-4.

摘要

A new kind of rod-coil amphiphilic block copolymer (PENG) was synthesized to use as both a macromo

lecular surfactant and a polymer matrix to encapsulate hydrophobic quantum dots

via

soft-confinement self-assembly

yielding surfactant-free QD@PENG water-dispersible nanoparticles with 121 °C-stable fluorescence and good biocompatibility for bio-imaging application.

Abstract

Self-assembly of block copolymers (BCP) with quantum dots (QDs) in a three-dimensional confined emulsion system is an effective method for preparing advanced QD/polymer composite particles with diverse morphologies and functionalities. However

the obtained particles normally exhibit sub-micrometer sizes and contain residual toxic surfactants

which hinders their potential application in fluorescent bio-imaging. In this study

we designed and synthesized a rod-coil-type amphiphilic block copolymer bearing a rigid hydrophobic poly(arylene ether nitrile) (PEN) block end-capped with a flexible hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) segment for the first time. Subsequently

the synthesized amphiphilic block copolymer

abbreviated as PENG

was employed as both the macromolecular surfactant and polymeric matrix to encapsulate the green-emitting oleophilic QD

via

emulsion confinement self-assembly. This process ultimately results in the generation of surfactant-free QD@PENG nanoparticles showing robust fluorescence emission over a wide pH and salt concentration range. Meanwhile

both the fine morphology and fluorescence emission of the QD@PENG nanoparticles were well preserved even after steam sterilization at 121 °C for 2 h

which is attributed to the high-temperature resistance of the rigid PEN segment. Owing to their robust fluorescence

biocompatibility

and nanoscale size (about 100 nm)

the optimized QD@PENG nanoparticles exhibited good performance in fluorescent imaging of macrophage cells. The current work proves that the emerging rod-coil amphiphilic block copolymers could serve as a promising matrix for the preparation of reliable bio-imaging probes.

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