Single step synthesis of carbon dot embedded chitosan nanoparticles for cell imaging and hydrophobic drug delivery.

The florescent carbon dot conjugated chitosan nanoparticles are developed for the cellular imaging and delivery of poorly water soluble drug telmisartan (TEL). In this work, the florescent chitosan nanoparticles are synthesized in a single step. The presence of surface functional groups and conjugation of the nanoparticles are investigated by FTIR spectroscopy. Dynamic light scattering and TEM analysis are performed to determine the size of the nanoparticles. To investigate the surface morphology FESEM analysis is also performed. The cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles is examined by MTT assay using normal lymphocytes and KG1A cancer cell lines. The intracellular cellular uptake is studied by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry analysis. The interactions between the nanoparticles and the drug are investigated by Gaussian 09 and visualized by GaussView 5 program package.