Precise Encoding of Triple-Bond Raman Scattering of Single Polymer Nanoparticles for Multiplexed Imaging Application

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy in combination with innovative tagging strategies offers great potential as a universal high-throughput biomedical imaging tool. Here, we report rationally tailored small molecular monomers containing triple-bond units with large Raman scattering cross-sections, which can be polymerized at the nanoscale for enhancement of SRS contrast with smaller but brighter optical nanotags with artificial fingerprint output. From this, a class of triple-bond rich polymer nanoparticles (NPs) was engineered by regulating the relative dosages of three chemically different triple-bond monomers in co-polymerization. The bonding strategy allowed for 15 spectrally distinguishable triple-bond combinations. These accurately structured nano molecular aggregates, rather than long-chain macromolecules, could establish a universal method for generating small-sized biological SRS imaging tags with high sensitivity for high-throughput multi-color biomedical imaging.