Advances of gold nanoclusters for bioimaging

A Review on Gold Nanoclusters for Cancer Phototherapy

“…71 The potential of nanogold in tumor-targeted therapy has been experimentally demonstrated, and the aggregation of PTA can also be achieved by utilizing the high permeability and retention effects of tumors as well as the particle size and surface properties of gold nanoclusters. 72 It has been proven that AuNPs smaller than 5 nm have lower biological toxicity than those larger than 5 nm; 29 thus, AuNCs have good biosafety. In addition, the ligands on the surface of AuNPs can also affect the cytotoxicity, and the selection of biocompatible ligands can significantly reduce the cytotoxicity of AuNPs.…”

“…Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs), composed of several to several hundred gold atoms, are nanomaterials that are of ultrasmall size (particle size around 2 nm) and are renal clearable . AuNCs have excellent photoluminescence performance, photochemical stability, and high biocompatibility and safety . The emission of AuNCs can be tuned from the visible light to the near-infrared (NIR) regions, which is a very suitable optical window for photoactivation and in vivo detection .…”

All-alkynyl-protected coinage metal nanoclusters: from synthesis to electrocatalytic CO2reduction applications

“…nanoclusters with an ultrasmall size (usually below 3.0 nm) hold a unique position in the field of nanomaterials, as they possess significantly different optical properties and electronic and microscopic structural features because of the relatively large nanoparticles or nanocrystals thanks to their strong quantum confinement effect. 1–3 Such an effect of the metal nanoclusters also leads to their application as antibacterial agents 12,13 and versatile applications in various fields, such as photo/electrocatalysis, 4,5 environmental remediation, 6,7 sensing, 8,9 bioimaging or biolabeling, 10,11 and so on. More importantly, metal nanoclusters can be chemically synthesized with molecular purity, that is, atomic precision.…”

Biomolecule-protected gold nanoclusters: synthesis and biomedical applications

“…20–22 In addition to the advantage of being used as templating agent, biomolecules play an essential role in conferring specific recognition of certain biomarkers to gold nanoclusters. A versatile hybrid platform is provided for bioimaging, 23 disease therapy, 24,25 and targeted drug delivery 26 applications (Scheme 1).…”