Covalent Organic Framework-Derived Carbonous Nanoprobes for Cancer Cell Imaging

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as promising materials for biomedical applications, but their functions remain to be explored and the potential toxicity concerns should be resolved. Herein, it is presented that carbonization significantly enhances the fluorescence quenching efficiency and aqueous stability of nanoscale COFs. The probes prepared by physisorbing dye-labeled nucleic acid recognition sequences onto the carbonized COF nanoparticles (termed C-COF) were employed for cell imaging, which could effectively light up biomarkers (survivin and TK1 mRNA) in living cells. The C-COF has enhanced photothermal conversion capacity, indicating that the probes are also promising candidates for photothermal therapy. The potential toxicity concern from the aromatic rigid building units of COFs was detoured by carbonization. Overall, carbonization is a promising strategy for developing biocompatible and multifunctional COF-derived nanoprobes for biomedical applications. This work may inspire more versatile COF-derived nanoprobes for bioanalysis and nanomedicine.