Raman experiment Raman spectra of cells were collected using a Renishaw inVia microspectrometer equipped with a Cl-amidine semiconductor laser (785 nm) and a Leica DM2500 microscope (Leica). A × 50 objective was used to focus the laser beam and to collect the Raman signal. The Raman spectra were recorded in the range of 600 to 1,700 cm−1. Before the cell Raman spectra was obtained, the Raman band of silicon wafer at 520 cm−1 was obtained to calibrate the spectrometer and all the data were collected under the same conditions. All experiments were independently carried Dasatinib nmr out at least five times. All the Raman spectra were baseline-corrected, removing the fluorescence background using a Vancouver Raman Algorithm software

[28]. Statistical analysis The data of MTT assay, trypan blue assay, and flow cytometry experiment were presented as mean and standard deviation. Independent sample t test was used to analyze the differences between the treated groups and the control groups, and p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results and discussion Synthesis and characterization of GQDs Figure 1a displayed the UV–Vis spectra of the three GQDs. The UV–Vis absorption spectra of aGQDs showed characteristic peak at around 230 nm and the absorption intensity decreased with the increasing wavelength,

which was consistent with the previous report [6]. The characteristic absorption peak of cGQDs was at 362 nm with a narrow full width at half maximum of 60 nm, which was similar to previous reports [6, 9]. Whereas, the UV–Vis analysis AZD0156 solubility dmso revealed that the absorption

of dGQDs was at 300 nm, and the full width at half maximum was 56 nm. Figure 1 UV–Vis absorption spectra and fluorescence spectra Rapamycin of three kinds of GQDs. (a) The UV–Vis absorption spectra of three kinds of GQDs. (b) The fluorescence spectra of aGQDs excited from 320 to 580 nm. (c) The fluorescence spectra of cGQDs independent on the excitation wavelength. (d) The fluorescence spectra of dGQDs. As shown in Figure 1b, the fluorescence emission of aGQDs was excitation-dependent. The emission peaks shifted from 470 to 600 nm when the excitation wavelength was changed from 320 to 580 nm in a 20-nm increment. The strongest fluorescence peak was at 500 nm with 420 nm as the excitation wavelength, which was in agreement with a previous report [6]. Whereas, the emission peak of cGQDs and dGQDs were excitation-independent (Figure 1c,d). The maximum excitation wavelength and the maximum emission wavelength were at 400 and 440 nm for cGQDs and 400 and 500 nm for dGQDs, respectively. As can be seen in Figure 2, TEM images indicated that the average size of aGQDs was about 7.5 nm (Figure 2a) and the cGQDs was about 15 nm and they were monodispersed (Figure 2b), which were in accordance with previous reports [6, 9]. The diameters of dGQDs mainly ranged from 3 to 10 nm (7.5 nm average diameter), and they were also monodispersed (Figure 2c).