LAUSR

Fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) are promising alternatives for biological imaging applications owing to the increasing concerns over the potential toxicity and poor degradability of inorganic particles-based probes. However, synthesis of stable, small-sized FONs in aqueous media remains challenging. Inspired by the self-polymerization chemistry of phenolic compounds, we demonstrate ultrafast synthesis of FONs (phenolic compound-derived FONs, PhFONs) from a variety of molecular building blocks including dopamine, norepinephrine, pyrogallol, and gallic acid, simply by nontherml plasma treatment at the aqueous interface. Specifically, using dopamine as the precursor, poly(dopamine) (PD)-FONs featuring a small size of 3 nm are obtained within 1 min. Compositional and structural characterizations confirm the polymeric architectures in PD-FONs. The PhFONs, with multicolor emissions, excellent biocompatibility, high stability, and size-dependent access into cell nucleus, are suitable for live cell imaging and developing nucleus-targeting imaging platforms.