Fluorescent properties of novel dendrimer dyes based on thiazole orange

In this paper, polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers with active amino group of some generations (G=0.5–2) were prepared from commercial aminoacetaldehyde diethyl acetal by the divergent method. After that, thiazole orange (TO) with –COOH was incorporated with dendrimers of G=1 and 2 to afford novel dendrimer-TO dyes. The fluorescent properties studies showed that the fluorescent intensity of the same concentration of dendrimer-TO (G=2) was higher than that of the dendrimer-TO (G=1), and both of them were much stronger than free TO with –COOH. There was a fluorescent enhancement of the dendrimer dyes compared with free dye. The dendrimer dyes were of well-defined chemical structure,with little aggregation and self-quenching as well as good fluorescence properties of good stability, high intensity and sensitivity, which could be used in labeling cancer cells and further in diagnosis and detection of early-stage tumors.