Fig. 6.

(a) FL transfer experiments showing the increase in intrinsic ICG FL (slope) upon the addition of BSA to ICG dissolved in 5 mM phosphate buffer. For pure ICG, the regression fit is: $\mathrm{FL}=1.37\times {10}^7[\mathrm{ICG}(\mathrm{mg}/\mathrm{mL})]$, $R^2=0.996$, for ICG + BSA: $\mathrm{FL}=2.36\times {10}^7[\mathrm{ICG}(\mathrm{mg}/\mathrm{mL})]$, $R^2=0.991$. (b) Intrinsic FL of $\mathrm{ICG}\text{-}{\mathrm{C}}_8$ in situ, which is an order of magnitude lower than the intrinsic FL of free ICG solution and ICG + BSA solution. $\mathrm{ICG}\text{-}{\mathrm{C}}_8$ complex loaded at 10 wt. % core loading.