Fluorescent Multifunctional Organic Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery and Bioimaging: A Tutorial Review

GUILLEM VARGAS-NADAL; MARIANA KÖBER ; AUDREY NSAMELA; FRANCESCA TERENZIANI; CRISTINA SISSA; SILVIA PESCINA; FABIO SONVICO; AMIRAH MOHD GAZZALI; HABIBAH A. WAHAB; LUCA GRISANTI; MARÍA EUGENIA OLIVERA; MARÍA CELESTE PALENA; MARÍA LAURA GUZMAN; LAURA CAROLINA LUCIANI-GIACOBBE; ALVARO JIMENEZ-KAIRUZ; NORA VENTOSA; IMMA RATERA; KEVIN D. BELFIELD; BEN M. MAOZ

PHARMACEUTICS

Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)

Lugar: Berna; Año: 2022 vol. 14 p. 1 - 1

1999-4923

luorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) are a large family of nanostructures constituted by organic components that emit light in different spectral regions upon excitation, due to the presence of organic fluorophores. FONs are of great interest for numerous biological and medical applications, due to their high tunability in terms of composition, morphology, surface functionalization, and optical properties. Multifunctional FONs combine several functionalities in a single nanostructure (emission of light, carriers for drug-delivery, functionalization with targeting ligands, etc.), opening the possibility of using the same nanoparticle for diagnosis and therapy. The preparation, characterization, and application of these multifunctional FONs require a multidisciplinary approach. In this review, we present FONs following a tutorial approach, with the aim of providing a general overview of the different aspects of the design, preparation, and characterization of FONs. The review encompa