Facile synthesis of fluorescent gold nanoclusters and their application in cellular imaging

摘要

Fluorescent metal nanoclusters (NCs) have many attractive features, including ultrasmall size, good biocompatibility and large Stokes shift, thus making them promising alternatives as fluorescent markers for biological applications. We have developed a facile method of synthesizing water-soluble, near-infrared (NIR) luminescent AuNCs. By virtue of the long fluorescence lifetime of these AuNCs, we explored their application in cellular fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM). Furthermore, the interaction of AuNCs with biomolecules such as proteins has been investigated. Upon protein association, the fluorescence of AuNCs was found to be enhanced and their luminescence lifetime was prolonged. Our studies underline the importance of studying the behavior of AuNCs within the complex biological environment for then-application as novel cellular imaging probes.