Preparation, characterization and biocompatibility of aspartic acid modified CdTe quantum dots

This study aims at preparing water soluble aspartic acid (ASP) modified CdTe quantum dots with tunable fluorescence emission controlled by reaction time. The size of the synthesized CdTe quantum dots was evaluated using transmission electron microscope (TEM) and also calculated based on their UV-vis spectra. The optical properties of TGA-CdTe quantum dots were characterized by UV-vis and fluorescence (FL) spectroscopy. The red-shift in the UV-vis absorption and FL emission with the increase of reaction time was observed. The biocompatibility examination indicated that the ASP modified CdTe QDs had low cytotoxicity. (C) 2014 Shui-Ping Liu. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.