Bovine serum albumin-capped gold nanoclusters conjugating with methylene blue for efficient 1O 2 generation via energy transfer

摘要

Graphical abstractDisplay OmittedAbstractBovine serum albumin (BSA)-capped gold nanoclusters (BSA-Au NCs) are attractive photosensitizers for efficient singlet oxygen1O2generation owing to their high-water solubility, low toxicity, and the broad absorption from UV to visible wavelengths, and the long lifetime of the electronic excitations (of the order of microseconds). However, the1O2generation efficiency of BSA-Au NCs is relatively low. In the present study, a conjugate of BSA-Au NCs and methylene blue (MB) (BSA-Au NC-MB conjugate) has been developed to improve1O2generation for antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT). The BSA-Au NC-MB conjugate demonstrated enhanced1O2generation compared to the case of BSA-Au NCs and effective aPDT ability under white-light LED illumination for only 1min due to the resonance energy transfer from the Au NCs to the MB in the conjugate. To the best of my knowledge, this is first report of Au NCs on the resonance energy transfer application for efficient1O2generation. Therefore, the BSA-Au NC-MB conjugate is a novel photosensitizer for1O