The synthesis of multifunctional monodisperse upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) of high quality is highly desired for bioimaging. Lanthanide-oleate complexes are excellent precursors for the synthesis of high quality UCNPs with controllable size and shape. In this work, lanthanide-oleate complexes were prepared by an ultrasonic assisted procedure, and used as precursors for further synthesis o...

Because of their multifunctionality and unique magnetic properties, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have been recognized as very promising materials for various biomedical applications. The main difficulty with the use of SPIONs as multimodal bioimaging agents is their lack of fluorescence. Since cells can act as extremely efficient filters for the elution of surface-bound f...

A facile strategy to fabricate multifunctional viral nanoparticles was described by introducing charge-transfer interactions between a pyrenyl motif with dinitrophenyl and pyridinium-contained guest molecules.

The coupling of diagnostic capability and effective therapy in a single multifunctional nanomedicine is desirable but remains challenging. Here, we developed multifunctional nanoparticles consisting of a gold nanostar (AuNS) core with a shell of metal-drug coordination polymer (CP). The AuNS core enabled plasmonic photothermal effect and two-photon photoluminescence (TPL), while the CP shell of...

Gold and pearls: Multifunctional nanoparticles, each composed of a single, amine-modified gold nanorod, decorated with multiple "pearls" of Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles capped with carboxy groups, are prepared. Their effectiveness in simultaneous targeting, dual-mode imaging, and photothermal ablation of breast cancer cells is demonstrated.

In this Review, we describe the synthesis of high-quality colloidal nanoparticles in organic solvents, the mechanisms by which they can be transferred into aqueous solution, and some of their applications in biology. In particular, we will place emphasis on the creation of multifunctional nanoparticles or nanoparticle assemblies.

Featured Article: Gao XH, Cui YY, Levenson RM, Chung LWK, Nie SM. In vivo cancer targeting and imaging with semiconductor quantum dots. Nat Biotechnol 2004;22:969 –76. The development of high-sensitivity and highspecificity probes that transcend the intrinsic limitations of organic fluorophores has been highly sought after by scientists in fields ranging from basic biology to molecular imaging ...

UNLABELLED Nanoparticles (NPs) are playing a progressively more significant role in multimodal and multifunctional molecular imaging. The agents like Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO), manganese oxide (MnO), gold NPs/nanorods and quantum dots (QDs) possess specific properties like paramagnetism, superparamagnetism, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and photoluminescence respectively. These spec...