The study of the interaction of quantum dots with phosphatidylcholine to create hybrid functional materials

Abstract

Quantum dots (QDs) are widely used as biomarkers that has both fundamental and applied importance. Since cell membranes are mainly composed of lipids such as phosphatidylcholine (PC) and its derivatives, it is important to investigate the interaction of QDs with PC in monolayers to understand the penetration mechanism. This work is devoted to the study of the interaction of QDs with PC by determining their surface-active properties at various interfaces by dynamic surface tension. The isotherms of the surface tension of 5 μg/L QDs solution or 0.17 mM (0.86 mM) PC solutions, as well as the solutions of the mixtures of QDs and PC: 0.17 mM (0.86 mM) PC and 5 μg/L QDs or 0.17 mM (0.86 mM) PC and 15 μg/L QDs were obtained. The mixed QDs/PC monolayers (at low content of QDs equal to 1:100) were characterized by the formation of a stable domain structures. An adsorption of PC at QDs allows to vary the degree of surface modification by changing the amount of the lipid. Such nanoparticles have dimensions not very different from the sizes of the initial QDs, due to the small size of lipids and are well suited for incorporation into biomembrane models.