A New Avenue to Promote Lanthanide Ion Emission

在这个由美国国家科学基金会化学部化学结构、动力学和机制B计划资助的项目中，里诺的内华达州大学的Ana de Bettencourt-Dias教授和她的研究小组用镧系元素离子装饰了各种纳米颗粒的表面，并评估了这些纳米颗粒敏化镧系元素发光的能力。所开发的材料具有作为生物成像剂的潜在应用。该项目涉及对本科生和研究生以及博士后研究人员进行纳米颗粒、有机分子和镧系离子络合物合成以及现代发射和吸收光谱技术方面的培训。学生研究人员在撰写描述他们的研究出版手稿获得经验。为了进一步提高学生撰写科学手稿的能力，de Bettencourt-Dias教授开发了一门科学写作课程，并将继续改进这门课程。主题包括提高写作效率的策略、研究手稿和研究生论文的概述、使用已发表资源的道德规范和在工业中求职的简历写作。镧系离子是由于4f轨道内的跃迁而发光的。这些跃迁和光发射最容易通过配位发色团来促进。作为该项目的一部分，纳米颗粒表面用现有的和新的配体进行功能化，以增加其水溶性和生物相容性;配体还与镧系元素离子配位，并作为能量转移的介质。借助荧光等光谱技术，将评估能量转移的效率，并开发参数，以改善发光性能，并为未来在生物成像应用中使用这些装饰的纳米粒子。

In this project, funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms B Program of the Chemistry Division of the National Science Foundation, Professor Ana de Bettencourt-Dias and her research group at the University of Nevada, Reno, decorate the surfaces of diverse nanoparticles with lanthanide ions and assess the ability of these nanoparticles to sensitize lanthanide luminescence. The materials developed have potential application as bioimaging agents. The project involves training of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, in the synthesis of nanoparticles, organic molecules and lanthanide ion complexes, as well as modern emission and absorption spectroscopic techniques. Student researchers gain experience in writing manuscripts describing their research for publication. To further improve the students' ability to write scientific manuscripts, Prof. de Bettencourt-Dias has developed and will continue improving a course on scientific writing. Topics such as strategies to increase writing productivity, outlining of research manuscripts and graduate theses, the ethics of using published sources and resume writing for job searching in industry are included.Lanthanide ions are light emitters due to transitions within the 4f orbitals. These transitions and the light emission are most easily promoted through coordinated chromophores. As part of this project, the nanoparticle surfaces are functionalized with existing and with new ligands that serve to increase their aqueous solubility and biocompatibility; the ligands also coordinate the lanthanide ions and serve as mediators for the energy transfer. With the help of spectroscopic techniques such as fluorescence, the efficiency of the energy transfer will be assessed and parameters will be developed for improvement of the luminescence properties and for the future use of these decorated nanoparticles in bioimaging applications.