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Phase transferring luminescent gold nanoclusters via single-stranded DNA

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Abstract

Atomically precise gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) are an emerging class of quantum-sized nanomaterials with discrete electronic energy levels, which has led to a range of attractive electronic and optical applications. Nevertheless, the lack of general methods to transfer Au NCs protected with hydrophobic ligands to an aqueous solution hampers their use in physiological settings. Here, we developed a single-stranded DNA-based approach that could transfer ∼90% hydrophobic Au NCs into an aqueous solution. We experimentally and theoretically established that multivalent electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between DNA strands and the hydrophobic ligand layer on Au NCs resulted in monodispersed DNA-coated Au NCs with high physical integrity in an aqueous solution. The fluorescence quantum yield of Au NCs was increased by ∼13 fold, and surface-constrained DNA retained the specific recognition ability for biosensing. We further demonstrated the versatility of this phase-transfer approach, which thus holds great potential to advance biological and medical applications of Au NCs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2020YFA0908104), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91953106, 92056117, 21904087, 21705159), the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission (19JC1410300, 19ZR1474600, 20dz1101000, 21QA1404800), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. We thank Prof. Yishi Wu (Capital Normal University) for providing the picosecond time-resolved luminescence measurement.

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Physical Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Interfacial Physics and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201800, China

    Yu Li, Hui Lu, Peilin Gu, Jiye Shi & Jiang Li

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Yu Li & Hui Lu

  3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules and National Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Zhibei Qu, Mingqiang Li, Haoran Zheng, Qian Li, Chunhai Fan & Jianlei Shen

  4. Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Zhangjiang Laboratory, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201210, China

    Jiang Li, Lihua Wang & **g Chen

  5. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200127, China

    Lihua Wang

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  1. Yu Li
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Correspondence to Jianlei Shen.

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The supporting information is available online at http://chem.scichina.com and http://springer.longhoe.net/journal/11426. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Li, Y., Lu, H., Qu, Z. et al. Phase transferring luminescent gold nanoclusters via single-stranded DNA. Sci. China Chem. 65, 1212–1220 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-022-1238-2

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