Water-Soluble, Thermostable, Photomodulated Color-Switching Quantum Dots

Photoswitchable probes are of great utility in fluorescence microscopy, permitting numerous determinations, including molecular localization for super-resolution, based on their modifiable emission intensity and spectra. We have coated a blue-emitting (425 nm) quantum dot (QD) with a diheteroarylethene photochrome (PCf), the closed form isomer of which has absorption and emission maxima at 440 and 520-530 nm, respectively, and thus functions as a fluorescent acceptor for the QD donor in Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET). The transition from the non-absorbing, non-fluorescent open state to the fluorescent closed state is achieved by irradiation in the near-UV and reversed by visible light. The PCf is coupled to an amphiphilic polymer that stably coats the QD, thereby creating a water-soluble color-switching QD (csQD) emitting in the blue after visible light irradiation and in the green after UV irradiation. Thus, csQDs photo-modulate between two observable states, without the "off" state of previous constructs. The resulting change in the emission ratios of the QD and PCf is up to 180 %, and the csQD can undergo multiple photocycles with minimal fatigue.