Bis-Schiff base linkage-triggered highly bright luminescence of gold nanoclusters in aqueous solution at the single-cluster level

Haohua Deng; Kaiyuan Huang; Lingfang Xiu; Weiming Sun; Qiaofeng Yao; Xiangyu Fang; Xin Huang; Hamada A A Noreldeen; Huaping Peng; Jianping Xie; Wei Chen

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-30760-3

Bis-Schiff base linkage-triggered highly bright luminescence of gold nanoclusters in aqueous solution at the single-cluster level

Nat Commun. 2022 Jun 13;13(1):3381. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-30760-3.

Authors

Haohua Deng^#¹, Kaiyuan Huang^#¹, Lingfang Xiu¹, Weiming Sun¹, Qiaofeng Yao^{2

3}, Xiangyu Fang¹, Xin Huang¹, Hamada A A Noreldeen¹, Huaping Peng¹, Jianping Xie^{4

5}, Wei Chen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Higher Educational Key Laboratory for Nano Biomedical Technology of Fujian Province, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Fujian Medical University, 350004, Fuzhou, China.
² Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.
³ Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Binhai New City, 350207, Fuzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore, 117585, Singapore. chexiej@nus.edu.sg.
⁵ Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Binhai New City, 350207, Fuzhou, China. chexiej@nus.edu.sg.
⁶ Higher Educational Key Laboratory for Nano Biomedical Technology of Fujian Province, Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Fujian Medical University, 350004, Fuzhou, China. weichen@fjmu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Metal nanoclusters (NCs) have been developed as a new class of luminescent nanomaterials with potential applications in various fields. However, for most of the metal NCs reported so far, the relatively low photoluminescence quantum yield (QY) in aqueous solution hinders their applications. Here, we describe the utilization of bis-Schiff base linkages to restrict intramolecular motion of surface motifs at the single-cluster level. Based on Au₂₂(SG)₁₈ (SG: glutathione) NCs, an intracluster cross-linking system was constructed with 2,6-pyridinedicarboxaldehyde (PDA), and water-soluble gold NCs with luminescence QY up to 48% were obtained. The proposed approach for achieving high emission efficiency can be extended to other luminescent gold NCs with core-shell structure. Our results also show that the content of surface-bound Au(I)-SG complexes has a significant impact on the PDA-induced luminescence enhancement, and a high ratio of Au(I)-SG will be beneficial to increasing the photoluminescence intensity of gold NCs.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Gold* / chemistry
Luminescence
Metal Nanoparticles* / chemistry
Schiff Bases
Water

Substances

Schiff Bases
Water
Gold