Investigation of the tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum as a promising fluorescent optical material for in vitro bioimaging

Tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3) is an optical material. It has caught the attention of researchers due to its electroluminescence (EL) efficient properties. This material also has excellent fluorescent properties, making it a candidate for bioimaging. We have used Alq3 as a fluorescent optical material for in vitro bioimaging for the first time. The cell viability under different concentrations of Alq3 was investigated. Then, the cell viability results were employed to generate the dose-response curves to estimate the appropriate Alq3 concentration with acceptable fluorescence in vitro bioimaging. The cell viability and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy results revealed that the concentration of Alq3 at 25 μM was the optimal concentration with good cell viability and excellent fluorescence. The stained cells by Alq3 demonstrated intense fluorescent images suggesting a potential application of Alq3 as a fluorescent optical material for in vitro bioimaging. This study's finding is the possibility of using the Alq3 as a fluorescent optical material in a new bio-application.