Size-Tunable and Crystalline BODIPY Nanorods for Bioimaging

Constructing organic nanorods with a uniform and tunable size is challenging. Herein, we fabricated borondipyrromethene (BODIPY) nanorods (BDP-NRs) via a simple single-step reprecipitation method in the absence of surfactants or adjuvants. The length and aspect ratio of the BDP-NRs could be tuned by varying the concentration of BDP. In addition, the obtained BDP-NRs are crystalline and stable in aqueous solution for several weeks. The formation mechanism of BDP-NRs was investigated in detail and ascribed to the crystallinity-induced assembly. More important, the BDP-NRs demonstrated efficient cellular uptake by living cells and a better imaging performance than free BDP, which contribute to a decrease in dosage of fluorescent dyes for bioimaging. This simple fabrication process with the ability to generate nanorods may open a new avenue in the development of organic fluorescence nanomaterials.