Lyoquest benchtop freeze dryer

All reagents unless otherwise stated were purchased from Sigma Aldrich (UK), Acros Organics (UK) or TCI chemicals (UK) and used without further purification. ¹H NMR spectra were recorded on a 400 MHz DCH Cryoprobe Spectrometer in CDCl3 and DMSO-d₆. UV-Vis absorption spectra were obtained on an Agilent Cary 300 Spectrophotometer. Fluorescence emission spectra were obtained using a Varian Cary Eclipse Fluorescence Spectrophotometer using excitation and emission splits of 5 nm. DLS and zeta potential measurements were recorded using a Zetasizer Nano ZS instrument (Malvern Panalytical, UK) with a sample concentration of 0.05 mg mL⁻¹. All Measurements were conducted three times with 15 subruns for each sample. Error bars represent the standard deviation of three measurements. Zeta potential was measured in a folded capillary Zeta cell DTS1070 (Malvern, UK). FTIR spectroscopy was carried out using a Bruker Tensor 27 spectrometer with samples pressed into KBr pellets. Lyophilisation was carried out using a Telstar LyoQuest benchtop freeze dryer (0.008 mBar, −70 °C).