Facile fabrication of glycopolymer-based iron oxide nanoparticles and their applications in the carbohydrate-lectin interaction and targeted cell imaging

A novel method for facile fabrication of glycopolymer-based iron oxide nanoparticles (GIONs) is developed. Via perfluorophenylazide photochemically induced C-H insertion, alkynyl groups were introduced onto the polymer which was precoated on the iron oxide nanoparticle surface. GIONs were then prepared by conjugating the azide-functionalized carbohydrate to the introduced alkynyl groups via click chemistry. Polyvinyl alcohol-coated and dextran-coated iron oxide NPs were chosen as scaffolds to attach two different carbohydrates, alpha-D-mannose and beta-D-glucose, to fabricate multivalent GIONs, respectively. The multivalent GIONs demonstrated high binding affinities towards the corresponding lectins in both protein and cell chips. As a proof of concept, fluorescent GIONs (Gal-RhB-IONPs) were fabricated, which showed selective and efficient internalization by ASGP-R overexpressing HepG2 cells targeted.