Engineering luminescent metal nanoclusters for sensing applications

Engineering Gold Nanostructures for Cancer Treatment: Spherical Nanoparticles, Nanorods, and Atomically Precise Nanoclusters

“…However, gold nanoclusters of molecular purity can be chemically synthesized with atomic precision. Atomically precise gold nanoclusters have demonstrated great potential for cancer treatment, mainly due to their rich surface functionalities, outstanding optical features (especially the excellent luminescent properties, e.g., strong emission in the near-infrared region), and great biocompatibility [ 10 , 85 , 86 , 87 ]. More importantly, thanks to the definite size, uniform composition, and crystallographically resolvable structure, atomically precise gold nanoclusters provide an ideal platform to unravel comprehensive mechanisms and establish structure–activity relationships in cancer treatment study [ 88 , 89 , 90 ].…”

Ligand engineering of Au nanoclusters with multifunctional metalloporphyrins for photocatalytic H2O2production

“…Photocatalysis as a green technology is extremely attractive in energy conversion, environmental remediation, and organic synthesis, and its progress is highly dependent on the development of advanced photocatalysts. 1–3 Among various photocatalysts, ultrasmall thiolated metal nanoclusters (NCs, <3 nm in size) have shown promising potential in diversified photocatalytic applications due to their intriguing molecule-like properties such as strong luminescence, 4–10 rich yet tailorable surface chemistry, 11–15 and intriguing HOMO–LUMO transitions ( i.e. , highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital), 16–19 which fuels the research enthusiasm in the design of high-efficiency metal NC-based photocatalysts.…”

A novel polypeptide-modified fluorescent gold nanoclusters for copper ion detection

“…Particularly, peptides are often used to synthesize biocompatible and functional metal nanoclusters due to its special three-dimensional structure, adjustable sequence, convenient synthesis and economical price 33 . For instance, Yuan and co-workers compared Au 25 NCs protected by GSH long-chain peptide nucleic acid with electron rich -COOH and -NH2 groups produced stronger luminescence 35 . Cysteine (C) has a good coordination ability 36 , and tyrosine (Y) has a strong ability to reduce metal ions 37 , C and Y are usually introduced into the peptide sequence to prepare AuNCs.…”