A host–guest self-assembly approach was developed to brighten Au22(FGGC)18 nanoclusters between CB[n] (n = 7, 8) and FGGC peptide in aqueous solutions.

No abstract

No abstract

The high biocompatibility and excellent photostability of Au nanoclusters (AuNCs) make them stand out in the bioimaging of nanoparticles. However, the low quantum yield and inferior targeting ability of water-soluble AuNCs greatly limit their biological applications. In this study, we designed and synthesized multifunctional host polymers PolySC 4 AP and FGGC@AuNCs to fabricate PolySC 4 AP/FGGC@AuNC assemblies via a host−guest interaction based on SC 4 (sulfonatocalix[4]arene) and positively charged FGGC ligands (phenylalanine-glycine-glycine-cysteine). Owing to the host−guest assembly strategy and rigid polymer matrix, the quantum yield of FGGC@AuNCs was significantly promoted from 7.0 to 35.3%, accompanied by considerable morphological changes of FGGC@AuNCs. Moreover, PolySC 4 AP/ FGGC@AuNCs could monitor the location of mitochondria along with R (Pearson's correlation coefficients) value for the colocalization as high as 0.9605, which provided a novel strategy for targeted bioimaging with luminophore.