Department Researchers Develop New "Quantum Dot" Synthesis Technique that Impacts Nanomedicine & Biomedical Imaging Applications.

INDIANAPOLIS - 03.31.2006

Researchers from the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology have just announced the publication of a new procedure for the synthesis of CdSe/ZnS-coated "Quantum Dots" (Murcia, Shaw, Woodruff, Naumann, Young, & Long "Facile Sonochemical Synthesis of Highly Luminescent ZnS-Shelled CdSe Quantum Dots" Chemistry of Materials, 2006, 18, published on Web 03/31/06). Quantum Dots are highly fluorescent nanoscale-sized solid particles that are finding increasing applications as imaging probes in the burgeoning field of nanomedicine. Due to their sheer brightness and high photostability, Quantum Dots have the ability to act as molecular "beacons" that allow the movements, targeting, and localization of compounds and proteins to which they are attached to be tracked in a biological medium or whole organism, thus impacting the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease states. While, to date, quantum dot materials have been costly when purchased commercially or inconvenient for biomedical laboratories to synthesize via standard, high-temperature techniques, the new synthesis developed at IUPUI makes use of room temperature sonochemistry to generate quantum dots spanning the full range of colors in the visible spectrum. This new, low temperature procedure may also facilitate the large-scale synthesis of quantum dots and allow inclusion of temperature sensitive materials in the synthesis procedure itself.

# # #