Novel nitrogen-doped carbon dots with triple targetability as a fluorescent probe for bioimaging of living cells

Investigating the interactions between various organelles can effectively reveal the corresponding biological problems. Currently, studies of organelle interactions typically employ multiple fluorescent probes that can concurrently target different organelles. However, the simultaneous use of multiple probes is complicated to operate, and the probes can interact with each other, affecting the imaging results. Therefore, targeting multiple organelles using a single probe can enhance the process of studying organelle interactions. Carbon dots (CDs), with their abundant surface groups, are expected to solve the abovementioned problems. Herein, we successfully used m-aminophenol and ethylenediamine to prepare high anti-interference capability and triple targetability CDs (n-CDs) with hydrothermal method. The co-localization experiments with commercial probes confirmed that it can target nucleolus, mitochondria and Lysosome at the same time. The preparation of n-CDs provides a new and convenient strategy to study the interaction between various organelles for solving corresponding biological problems, thus revealing the mysteries of life.