A pH‐Responsive Nanoparticle Library with Precise pH Tunability by Co‐Polymerization with Non‐Ionizable Monomers
Ruiyang Zhao, Chuanxun Fu, Zenghui Wang, Meijie Pan, Bin Ma, Qingqing Yin, Binlong Chen, Jianxiong Liu, Heming Xia, Fangjie Wan, Letong Wang, Qiang Zhang, Yiguang Wang
Abstract
Abstract Precise monitoring of the subtle pH fluctuation during biological events remains a big challenge. Previously, we reported an ultra‐pH‐sensitive (UPS) nanoprobe library with a sharp pH response using co‐polymerization of two tertiary amine‐containing monomers with distinct p K a . Currently, we have generalized the UPS nanoparticle library with tunable pH transitions (pH t ) by copolymerization of a tertiary amine‐containing monomer with a series of non‐ionizable monomers. The pH t of nanoparticles is fine‐tuned by the non‐ionizable monomers with different hydrophobicity. Each non‐ionizable monomer presents a constant contribution to pH tunability regardless of tertiary amine‐containing monomers. Based on this strategy, we produced two libraries of nanoprobes with continuous pH t covering the entire physiological pH range (5.0–7.4) for fluorescent imaging of endosome maturation and cancers. This generalized strategy provides a powerful toolkit for biological studies and cancer theranostics.