Red emissive cross-linked chitosan and their nanoparticles for imaging the nucleoli of living cells

•Glutaraldehyde-cross-linked chitosan of different states (solution, gel, nanoparticle, etc.) with luminesce at ca. 670nm were prepared for the first time.•They are quite inert and anti-photobleaching.•Their nanoparticles (5.6nm) could image the nucleoli of living HeLa cells with low cytotoxicity. B...

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